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padding-top: 1px } + + .coverpage, .titlepage, + .contents, .foreword, .preface, .introduction, .dedication, .prologue, + .epilogue, .appendix, .glossary, .bibliography, .index, .colophon, + .footnotes, + .cleardoublepage { page-break-before: right; padding-top: 1px } + + .vfill { margin-top: 20% } + h2.title { margin-top: 20% } +} +</style> +<style type="text/css"> +.pageno { position: absolute; right: 95%; font: medium sans-serif; } +.pageno:after { color: gray; content: '[' attr(title) ']' } +.toc-pageref { float: right } +pre { font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.9em; white-space: pre-wrap } +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 35449 ***</div> +<div class="document" id="the-negro-and-the-elective-franchise-a-series-of-papers-and-a-sermon"> +<h1 class="document-title level-1 pfirst title with-subtitle">The Negro And The Elective Franchise. A Series Of Papers And A Sermon</h1> +</div> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> +</div> +<div class="container" id="pg-produced-by"> +<p class="noindent pfirst">Produced by Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at <a class="reference external" href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> +</div> +</div> +</div> +<p class="center larger pfirst">Occasional Papers, No. 11.</p> +<p class="center larger pnext">The American Negro Academy.</p> +<p class="center larger pnext">THE NEGRO AND THE ELECTIVE FRANCHISE</p> +<p class="center pnext"><strong class="bold">A SERIES OF PAPERS AND A SERMON BY</strong></p> +<p class="center pnext"><strong class="bold">Archibald H. Grimké, Charles C. Cook, John Hope, +John L. Love, Kelly Miller and Rev. Frank J. Grimké.</strong></p> +<p class="center pnext"><strong class="bold">PRICE: THIRTY-FIVE CENTS.</strong></p> +<p class="center pnext smaller">WASHINGTON, D. C.</p> +<p class="center pnext smaller">PUBLISHED BY THE ACADEMY.</p> +<p class="center pnext smaller">1905.</p> +<div class="contents level-2 section" id="id1"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title">CONTENTS</h2> +<ul class="simple toc-list"> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#the-meaning-and-need-of-the-movement-to-reduce-southern-representationarchibald-h-grimke" id="id18">The Meaning And Need Of The Movement To Reduce Southern Representation—<em class="italics">ARCHIBALD H. GRIMKÉ</em></a></li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#the-penning-of-the-negrocharles-chauveau-cook" id="id19">The Penning of the Negro—<em class="italics">CHARLES CHAUVEAU COOK</em></a></li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#the-negro-vote-in-the-states-whose-constitutions-have-not-been-specifically-revisedjohn-hope" id="id20">The Negro Vote in the States Whose Constitutions Have Not Been Specifically Revised—<em class="italics">JOHN HOPE</em></a></li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#the-potentiality-of-the-negro-vote-north-and-westjohn-l-love" id="id21">The Potentiality of the Negro Vote, North and West—<em class="italics">JOHN L. LOVE</em></a></li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#migration-and-distribution-of-the-negro-population-as-affecting-the-elective-franchisekelly-miller" id="id22">Migration and Distribution of the Negro Population as Affecting the Elective Franchise—<em class="italics">KELLY MILLER</em></a></li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#the-negro-and-his-citizenshipfrancis-j-grimke" id="id23">The Negro and His Citizenship—<em class="italics">FRANCIS J. GRIMKÉ</em></a></li> +</ul> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="the-meaning-and-need-of-the-movement-to-reduce-southern-representationarchibald-h-grimke"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id18">The Meaning And Need Of The Movement To Reduce Southern Representation—<em class="italics">ARCHIBALD H. GRIMKÉ</em></a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">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 together 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 labor and institutions received +adequate protection in that instrument. And this the North had finally +to consent to incorporate into the organic law of the new nation. One +of these concessions was known as the Slave Representation Clause of the +Constitution, 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 exorbitant or +ruinous price for the North to pay for the Union, but subsequent 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">Everybody now-a-days seems to forget, or makes believe to have +forgotten, this lamentable chapter in our history, and its application +to present day evils—everybody but a few far-seeing Negroes, 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 domination lasts +among them. Such a struggle set in between the two sections almost +immediately after the adoption of the Constitution. With industrial and +political ideas, interests, and institutions directly opposed to each +other, rivalry and strife between 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 passions +under one general government. Each set of antagonistic ideas and +interests was compelled by the great law of self preservation 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 Constitution 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 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, +namely; the master class. This circumstance solidified the South, and +gave to its action a unity and energy of purpose which the industrial +democracy of the North always lacked. As a consequence, Southern men +obtained speedy possession of the National Government, 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 Mason and Dixon's line during the +first twenty-five years of the existence of the Union. The course of +events during this period revealed this bitter fact to New England. For +she was outwitted, out-voted and over-matched again and again in +national legislation and administrative measures by the slave oligarchy, +which ruled the South and dominated in national affairs.</p> +<p class="pnext">For instance, New England opposed the embargo and the retaliatory +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 protests 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 discontented +almost to disaffection with Southern domination in the Union. 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 national 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 apportionment of +representatives among the states. It was felt at the time and much more +strongly and generally afterward, that this 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 sections to neutralize the free-will +of every three freemen by the dummy-will of every five slaves, was an +unjust and dangerous advantage possessed by the slave oligarchy over its +sectional rival, the free democracy of the North.</p> +<p class="pnext">The consciousness of this political wrong and danger was at the bottom +of the bitter opposition on the part of the North to the admission 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 democracy which grew out of the slave representation clause +of the Constitution, and the resistance of the slave states to such a +movement, 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 representatives among the several +states in the newly restored Union.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 political cunning and determination to create +a similar power out of the social forces and material which lay in +disorder about them.</p> +<p class="pnext">The reconstruction of the South by the old slave oligarchy resulted 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 threatened rise in national +politics of an African serf power aroused the North to the danger which +girt afresh the supremacy of its industrial democracy in the Union. It +thereupon set about the work of removing this peril forever. In doing +this work it unfortunately 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 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 likewise of +the 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution.</p> +<p class="pnext">All of these great acts were intended to destroy utterly the basis 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 attitude of the Supreme Court in +interpreting the laws made in pursuance 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 permanently servile, and that the maintenance of this state of +race superiority on the one side, and of race inferiority 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 adequately +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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 taxed. But when 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 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 +except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of +representation 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."</p> +<p class="pnext">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 manipulations of electoral returns, and +this in turn to "grandfather" and "understanding clauses" administered +by prejudiced registration boards in those states which have revised +their constitutions. Says Professor Dunning in an article on "The +Undoing of Reconstruction" 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 amendments 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 extraordinary feat of eating its political cake and +keeping it at the same time.</p> +<p class="pnext">In South Carolina, for example, where the blacks outnumber the whites by +224,326, and in Mississippi where the colored population is in excess of +the white by 263,640, "the influence of the Negroes 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 almost 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 current +controversy."</p> +<p class="pnext">Entrenched in the South to-day is an aristocracy based on race. The +whole tendency of things down there is to de-citizenize the blacks, to +reduce them to a state of permanent political and industrial +subordination to the whites. This is aristocratizing the republic 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 industrial 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 community 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 evade 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 amendments 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, whether physical or political, begets in time disinclination +and then incapacity for exercising the same. The right to vote, under +present 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 comparison with that +cast in Northern congressional districts. The same is true of the vote +for presidential electors, and for the executive, 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">For instance, the average vote cast for Congressmen by Northern +congressional districts during the election of 1898 was over 35,000, +while that cast by Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and South +Carolina, which are operated in effect on the Mississippi plan, was less +than 5,000. The total vote cast for 37 congressmen 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 +representatives in Congress to guard and promote her peculiar interests +against the 37 who sat in the House to guard and promote the peculiar +interests of the ruling oligarchy of those five de-republicanized +Southern states.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 representative polled at the same time a vote of 57,712, +which exceeded more than three times the vote polled by Mississippi for +eight representatives. 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 for seven districts and contrast 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 congressional 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 election 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, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South +Carolina with an aggregate population 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 representatives 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 representatives!</p> +<p class="pnext">Again: At the presidential election last November the combined vote +of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina, 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 ominous and significant the marked shrinkage in 1904 of the +popular vote for electors in Alabama, North Carolina, and Virginia, +states which had but recently revised their constitutions, as compared +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 shrinkage 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 measures 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 undoing of +the 14th and the 15th amendments, and of democratic institutions in +America, be complete. Not until then will the movement, 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 denial to the people of a voice in government, whether state, +colonial or national, which characterize the present period of our +national history.</p> +<p class="pnext">It will not be impertinent for me to add by way of concluding this +article, a few words regarding some of the political consequences, which +would be sure to follow a reduction of Southern 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, exacting and aggressive to-day on the Negro +question because it has so much numerical strength in Congress and the +electoral college 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 aggressiveness on the race +question. For as it declines in relative strength in Congress and the +electoral college it will decline in relative importance 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 college-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 increase of +the northern wing of the Democratic party in the control 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">This consideration brings me to a second consequence, which would follow +a reduction of southern representation. And that is this: It will put an +end to the present period of good will and peace between the sections, +so disastrous to the rights of the Negro. 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 +democrats of the South on the Negro question as well. For the northern +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 such differences +and strife between the sections, a reaction at the North in favor of the +Negro. Public sentiment for juster treatment of the race will gain +thereafter steadily in strength. It will influence the Republican party +to give to the question a more radical treatment than it now gives it, +to take steps to enforce by appropriate 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 unresponsive 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 question. 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 factor in their development and civilization. And so +liberal sentiment towards the Negro may be awakened in the South and be +made thus to spread slowly downward as a leavening influence.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 after +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 people are bound to respect. +Let southern representation in Congress be therefore reduced. The sooner +the better it will be for the Negro and the Nation.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 discrimination against shippers +of live stock, and in favor of packing house products and dressed meats. +But alas, how different has been the attitude of the national government +toward investigating that greatest of all discriminations in the +Republic, namely: the wholesale disfranchisement of Negroes in the South +because 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 subject 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 general government to address itself to +that subject, and accordingly proposed from his place in Congress +suitable measures for that purpose. Unfortunately for Congressman +Crumpacker's proposition the presidential election of 1900 was at the +time approaching 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">The matter was, however, revived by Mr. Crumpacker in a subsequent +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 whether 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, except for crime." This resolution so reasonable, +moderate, and just, fell a victim, so it was reported at the time, to a +shrewd bargain 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 do what the Republican +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.</p> +<p class="pnext">"We favor such Congressional action as shall determine whether, by +special discrimination, 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 college shall be +proportionally reduced as directed by the Constitution of the United +States."</p> +<p class="pnext">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 institutions 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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?</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="the-penning-of-the-negrocharles-chauveau-cook"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id19">The Penning of the Negro—<em class="italics">CHARLES CHAUVEAU COOK</em></a></h2> +<p class="pfirst"><strong class="bold">[The Negro in the States of the Revised Constitutions]</strong></p> +<p class="pnext">The following States have revised their constitutions for the purpose of +excluding colored voters, and in the following order:—</p> +<p class="pnext">(1) MISSISSIPPI.</p> +<p class="pnext">Section 241, Article 12, constitution of Mississippi, defining who are +electors:</p> +<blockquote><div> +<p class="pfirst">"Every male inhabitant of the state, except idiots, insane +persons, and Indians not taxed, who is a citizen of the United +States, 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, perjury, embezzlement, or bigamy, and +who has paid on or before the 1st 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 produce to the officer +holding the election satisfactory evidence that he has paid +his taxes."</p> +</div></blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">Section 242 of Article 12, further provides that persons offering to +register shall take the following oath:</p> +<blockquote><div> +<p class="pfirst">"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 +district for one year preceding the ensuing election, and am +now in 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 disqualification to be an elector, that I will truly +answer <em class="italics">all questions propounded to me concerning my +antecedents so far as they relate to my right to vote</em> and +also as to <em class="italics">my residence before my citizenship in this +district,</em> 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">Any willful and corrupt false statement in said affidavit or +in answer to any material question propounded as herein +authorized shall be perjury."</p> +</div></blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">Section 244, Article 12, constitution of Mississippi, requires +that:</p> +<blockquote><div> +<p class="pfirst">"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 understand the same when read to him, or give a +reasonable interpretation thereof."</p> +</div></blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">(2) SOUTH CAROLINA.</p> +<blockquote><div> +<p class="pfirst">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, <em class="italics">or understand and +explain it</em> when read to them by the registration officer, +shall be entitled to registration and become electors."</p> +<p class="pnext">Subdivision (d). "Any person who shall apply for registration +after January 1, 1898, if otherwise qualified, shall be +registered: <em class="italics">Provided</em> that he can both read and write any +section of the constitution 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."</p> +</div></blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">(3) LOUISIANA.</p> +<blockquote><div> +<p class="pfirst">Section 3. "He (the voter) shall be able to read and write, +and shall demonstrate his ability to do so when he applies for +registration, by making, under oath administered by the +registration officer or his deputy, written application +therefor, in the English language, 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 whatever, except the +form of application hereinafter set forth: <em class="italics">Provided, +however,</em> 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:</p> +<p class="pnext">"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 provision +of the constitution of this State."</p> +<p class="pnext">Section 4. "If he be not able to read and write, provided by +section 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 than $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."</p> +<p class="pnext">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 resided, 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 register and vote in this +State by reason of his failure to possess the educational or +property qualifications prescribed by this constitution: +<em class="italics">Provided</em>, He shall have resided in this State for five years +next preceding the date at which he shall apply for +registration, 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."</p> +</div></blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">(4) NORTH CAROLINA.</p> +<blockquote><div> +<p class="pfirst">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 his failure to possess the educational +qualification herein prescribed, provided he shall have +registered in accordance with the terms of this section prior +to December, 1908.</p> +<p class="pnext">"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, provide 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 disqualified under section 2 +of this article: <em class="italics">Provided</em>, Such person shall have paid his +poll tax as above required."</p> +</div></blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">(5) ALABAMA (in effect Nov. 28th, 1901.) entitled to register:—</p> +<p class="pnext">These sections of the Alabama constitution were before the Supreme +Court in the case of <em class="italics">Giles v. Harris</em>, (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 follows:</p> +<blockquote><div> +<p class="pfirst">"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 foregoing, 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 enumerated 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 character +and who understand the duties and obligations of citizenship +under a republican form of government.' By section 181 after +January 1, 1903, only the following persons are entitled to +register: First. Those who can read and write any article of +the Constitution of the United States in the English language, +and who either are physically unable to work or have been +regularly engaged 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 reside, and owners or husbands of owners of +real or personal estate in the State assessed for taxation at +three hundred dollars or more [...] [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 +five years, the names by which they have been known, and the +names of their employers."</p> +</div></blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">(6) VIRGINIA. (in effect July 10th, 1902.)</p> +<blockquote><div> +<p class="pfirst">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 entitled to vote for members of the General +Assembly and all officers elected by the people; but removal +from one precinct to another, in the same county, city or town +shall not deprive any person of his right to vote in the +precinct from which he has moved, until the expiration of +thirty days after such removal."</p> +<p class="pnext">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 having the qualifications of age +and residence required in Section Eighteen shall be entitled +to register, if he be:</p> +<p class="pnext">"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</p> +<p class="pnext">"Second. A son of any such person; or</p> +<p class="pnext">"Third. A person, who owns property, upon which, for the year +next preceding that in which he offers to register, state +taxes aggregating at least one dollar, have been paid; or</p> +<p class="pnext">"Fourth. A person able to read any section of this +Constitution, submitted to him by the officers of registration +and to give a reasonable explanation of the same; or, if +unable to read such section, able to understand and give a +reasonable explanation thereof when read to him by the +officers.</p> +<p class="pnext">"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."</p> +<p class="pnext">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:</p> +<p class="pnext">"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;</p> +<p class="pnext">"Second. That, unless physically unable, he make application +to register in his own hand-writing, without aid, suggestion +or memorandum, in the presence of the registration officers, +stating therein his name, age, date and place of birth, +residence and occupation 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,</p> +<p class="pnext">"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."</p> +<p class="pnext">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 following conditions:</p> +<p class="pnext">"That he, unless exempted by section Twenty-two, shall, as a +prerequisite to the right to vote after the first day of +January, nineteen hundred and four, personally pay, at least +six months prior to the election, all state poll taxes +assessed or assessable against him under this Constitution, +during the three years next preceding that in which he offers +vote; provided that, if he register 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 preparation +of his ballot by such officer of election as he himself may +designate."</p> +<p class="pnext">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."</p> +<p class="pnext">Section 23. "The following persons shall be excluded from +registering 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 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."</p> +</div></blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">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 colored 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 may, 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">There is, of course, a series of events leading up to this radical +change in the institutions of the Republic, a history beginning 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 American 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 +possessed of freedom, civil rights and political privileges.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 obtained 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 outcry at +home—and then taking out the side-arms, which the generous terms of +surrender had permitted them to retain, they rapidly dispersed the +opposing force, and took the reins of government again into their own +hands. With musket in one hand to retain political power, and pen in the +other to undo the Reconstruction 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">The South could no longer close its eyes to the want of prosperity. In +1890, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, 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 Hampshire, 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-twenty-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 contributory agent to the new industrial +prosperity of the South—and not the less, cut off from any sort of +control, even of the industries, 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">In 1890, however, came troubles so serious as to require a diversion of +attention from economical to political problems. The Republican party +pledge to secure for all citizens 'a free ballot 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 Populist 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 +presented 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 parties 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 county and town election contests, even in the Southern +states where the Democratic party is in entire possession of the State +government, this compact(?) 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 the balance of power in town or county, the bitter irony of the +situation is overwhelming.<a class="footnote-reference pginternal" href="#id3" id="id2"><sup>1</sup></a> The South is simply driven by its own +irrefutable(?) logic to total disfranchisement of the Negro, there being +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 municipal under which they +live(!). All this the South, impelled by her honest desire(!) for good +government, and resolutely turning her back upon past methods of fraud +and violence,(!) means to accomplish legally—provided Congress and the +Supreme Court throw over her naked but unalterable will the broad mantle +of legality.</p> +<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" rules="none" id="id3"> +<colgroup><col class="label"/><col/></colgroup> +<tbody valign="top"> +<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref pginternal" href="#id2">[1]</a></td><td><p class="first last pfirst">In West Virginia there are, on the Census basis (958,800 = +whole population, less 43,499-colored population = 915,301-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, = 3267 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.</p> +</td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> +<p class="pnext">We are reminded of the story of the princess, who wandering in rags, +came to a palace and begged accommodation there befitting 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 in 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 solution.</p> +<p class="pnext">This happily settled, the South after fifteen years of uncertainty, +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 assurance that no solution can be more than +temporary in which the Negro is dealt with falsely and unjustly.</p> +<p class="pnext">Meantime what had been the course of the Republican party, 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 presidential campaigns:—</p> +<p class="pnext">[1868.]</p> +<p class="pnext">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 belongs to the people of those +States.</p> +<p class="pnext">The recent amendments to the National Constitution should be cordially +sustained because they are right, not merely tolerated 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 amendments.</p> +<p class="pnext">[1872.]</p> +<p class="pnext">Complete liberty and exact equality in the enjoyment of all civil, +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 administration should admit +any discrimination in respect of citizens by reason of race, creed, +color or previous condition of servitude.</p> +<p class="pnext">[1876.]</p> +<p class="pnext">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, +deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Until +these truths are cheerfully obeyed, or, if need be, vigorously enforced, +the work of the Republican party is unfinished.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 Constitutional Amendments is vested by those +amendments in the Congress 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 discontent on the +part of any class, and for securing to every American citizen complete +liberty and exact equality in the exercise of all civil, political and +public rights. To this end we imperatively 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">[1880.]</p> +<p class="pnext">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 punishment of all those who violate +them, are the only safe methods by which an enduring peace can be +secured and genuine prosperity 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">[1884.]</p> +<p class="pnext">The perpetuity of our institutions rests upon the maintenance of a free +ballot, an honest count, and correct returns. We denounce the fraud and +violence practiced by the Democracy in Southern States, by which the +will of a voter is defeated, as dangerous 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 legislation as will +secure to every citizen, of whatever race and color, the full and +complete recognition, possession and exercise of all civil and political +rights.</p> +<p class="pnext">[1888.]</p> +<p class="pnext">We reaffirm our unswerving devotion to the national Constitution 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">[1892.]</p> +<p class="pnext">We demand that every citizen of the United States shall be allowed to +cast one free and unrestricted ballot in all public elections, and that +such ballot shall be counted and returned as cast; that such laws shall +be enacted and enforced as will secure to 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 representation of all the people, as well as their just +and equal protection under the laws, are the foundation of our +Republican institutions, and the party will never relent its efforts +until the integrity of the ballot and the purity of elections shall be +fully guaranteed and protected in every State.</p> +<p class="pnext">[1896.]</p> +<p class="pnext">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.</p> +<p class="pnext">[1900.]</p> +<p class="pnext">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.</p> +<p class="pnext">[1904.]</p> +<p class="pnext">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 directed by the Constitution of the United +States.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 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 sovereign 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 momentous +changes taking place in American society.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 economic and social difference, which made diverging ideals, +diverging habits, diverging tastes, ceased to be, real sympathy was +impossible. 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. Therefore it is that in +a part of the writing and ruling class, we feel that there is a +gravitating of morals southward.<a class="footnote-reference pginternal" href="#id5" id="id4"><sup>2</sup></a> 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 remains 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 political equality for +the Negro.</p> +<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" rules="none" id="id5"> +<colgroup><col class="label"/><col/></colgroup> +<tbody valign="top"> +<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref pginternal" href="#id4">[2]</a></td><td><p class="first pfirst">"The Republican party in its work of imposing the +sovereignty of the United States upon eight millions of Asiatics, has +changed its views in regard 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 have no further fear +that the Republican party, or Republican administrations, will ever +again give themselves over to the vain imagination of the political +equality of man."</p> +<p class="last pnext">—[Burgess—Reconstruction and the Constitution, page 298.]</p> +</td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> +<p class="pnext">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 +employed 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 before 1776,—in +politics, because it is doing the same in <em class="italics">morals</em>. 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 filling in the space with stone. Days of +tremendous business activity, or national triumph are not likely to be +so spent.</p> +<p class="pnext">We <em class="italics">must</em> not make the mistake of assuming that there is power in the +nation to do us justice. "Not in a republic," some one may ask? No! Von +Holst says: "That virtue is the specific vital principle of republics is +a delusion. The historical course of development, natural circumstances, +material interests and political and social customs are the elements by +which, in all states without exception, the form of the state is in the +first place conditioned." 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 Holst 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 himself 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 +incorporation of Mexico with the Union." And before 1900, as a result of +the war with Spain, the impossible, the absolutely forbidden 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 demands a careful consideration of every case; it +cannot be machine-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 cry 'forward' grows even louder, +more insistent, more passionate. 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 +irresistibly swept aside. Doubts, weariness, exhaustion even will not +stop the rapidly revolving wheels. Only in the <em class="italics">wake</em> 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. Observe the turning of +defeat in the struggle into despair, then stagnation 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 threaten this floor, upon which they stand from beneath, +ever appealing 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 luxury from +above poison, and shaping from its own eager thousands 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 conqueror. In the west of Europe, +two thousand years ago was born Julius Caesar; in the East, Jesus +Christ. From mountain, wilderness 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">Outside of the slave states, equal participation in the government by +all citizens has been the foundation stone of the Republic. 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. +"<em class="italics">Without political and social equality</em>," he said, "<em class="italics">to change the +condition of the African race would be but to change the form of +slavery."</em> The South accepts the alternative and resolves that, whatever +the cost, political and social equality shall never be. The North must +yield; <em class="italics">she</em> will not. While some are trusting to the finality of the +13th Amendment, others to industrial opportunity, others still to +political 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 condition of serfdom ... +or a movement in the direction of recognizing him as a citizen in the +true sense of the term. One or the other will prevail."</p> +<p class="pnext">Are there reasons wanting why the nation should keep true to its +foundation principles? Granting that the pathway to freedom 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 together 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:—</p> +<p class="pnext">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 <em class="italics">spirit</em> of +restriction.</p> +<p class="pnext">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."</p> +<p class="pnext">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?</p> +<p class="pnext">As restriction is practiced in the South, it breeds contempt for the +law:</p> +<p class="pnext">And increasing unrest, for like a snowball it swells and gathers fresh +resistance as it goes:</p> +<p class="pnext">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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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?<a class="footnote-reference pginternal" href="#id7" id="id6"><sup>3</sup></a> When slaves were escaping, they demanded that the +constitutional guarantees be fulfilled to the letter, clamored like +Shylock for the pound of flesh which the law allowed. Now, too, they +demand of the amendments as before of the clauses of the instrument +reserving power to the states, that they be construed by the +letter:—but with what a change of object,—no longer that the rights of +minorities may be respected but that they may be utterly suppressed.</p> +<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" rules="none" id="id7"> +<colgroup><col class="label"/><col/></colgroup> +<tbody valign="top"> +<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref pginternal" href="#id6">[3]</a></td><td><p class="first pfirst">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., S. C., Va., Ala., Miss., and La., the</p> +<dl class="docutils"> +<dt>white population is</dt> +<dd><p class="first last pfirst">5,396,649 = 55 per cent.</p> +</dd> +<dt>colored " "</dt> +<dd><p class="first last pfirst">4,453,253 = 45 per cent.</p> +</dd> +<dt>total " "</dt> +<dd><p class="first last pfirst">9,849,902 = 100 per cent.</p> +</dd> +</dl> +<p class="last pfirst">—BY THE 12TH CENSUS (1900.)</p> +</td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> +<p class="pnext">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 nations agreed to fix +limits to the cruelties of war, did they thereby place a penalty upon +brains?</p> +<p class="pnext">Finally, is it claimed that a free ballot signifies unlimited +corruption? Read the answer in England's purification of her politics: I +quote from Sir Thomas Erskine May:—</p> +<p class="pnext">"Political morality may 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 unusual 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 men who had bought their seats,—and paid +dearly for them,—owed no allegiance to political patrons. "They sought +admission to Parliament, not so much with a view to a political career, +as to serve mere personal ends, to forward commercial speculations, to +extend their connections and to gratify their social aspirations. But +their independence and ambition well fitted them for the service of the +court.... They soon ranged themselves among the king's friends: and thus +the court policy,—which was otherwise subversive of freedom became +associated with parliamentary 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 bodies of electors then intrusted with the +franchise.... Representatives 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 the 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 immediately rose to a premium of 11 per cent.... +Here the country sustained a loss of £385,000.... Stock jobbing became +the fashion; and many members of Parliament were notoriously concerned +in it. Again in 1781 ... a loan of £12,000,000 was contracted 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 +purpose of corrupting the Parliament to support a wicked, impolitic and +ruinous <em class="italics">war</em>.</p> +<p class="pnext">Now as to the electorate. "In Scotland in 1831, the total number of +county voters did not exceed 2500; and the constituencies of the 66 +boroughs amounted to 1440.... The county of Argyll, with a population of +100,000 had but 115 electors: Caithness with 36,000, contained 47 free +holders. Edinburgh and Glasgow, the two first cities of Scotland, had +each a 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 statement +made by the Duke of Richmond in 1780, not more than 6,000 men returned a +clear majority of the British House of Commons.... 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....</p> +<p class="pnext">"The glaring defects and vices of the representative system which have +now been exposed,—the restricted and unequal franchise, the bribery of +a limited electoral body, and the corruption of the representatives +themselves,—formed the strongest arguments for Parliamentary reform.... +The theory of an equal representation, 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 +constitutional. Popular: but not democratic:—it extended liberty, +without 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 represented 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."</p> +<p class="pnext">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 altogether; 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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:—</p> +<p class="pnext">1st. What justice <em class="italics">does</em> demand; and</p> +<p class="pnext">2nd. What the Negro must do to get it.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 concerned, was a +beneficent institution, raising him from his previous 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 failure, 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 +institution, 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 possible 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 embalm their errors in the secretion of their +intellects, and even preserves 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 seeking for a cure.</p> +<p class="pnext">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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 thousand years of progressive white +civilization;—in a country where there are sixty millions of white men, +entrenched in their possession 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 +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 answer: 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 continuance of white +domination, even in the blackest portion of the black South.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 preparations 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 ignorance so submerges the black man, why does not +the Massachusetts principle of protecting the ballot prevail in the +South? Why is it necessary to require the voter to read, yes, and +<em class="italics">interpret satisfactorily, any</em> clause in the state constitution?<a class="footnote-reference pginternal" href="#id9" id="id8"><sup>4</sup></a> +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 viciousness 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 people in the District of Columbia are criminals. If the same +proportion maintains elsewhere, what more is needed to accomplish the +desired end?</p> +<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" rules="none" id="id9"> +<colgroup><col class="label"/><col/></colgroup> +<tbody valign="top"> +<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref pginternal" href="#id8">[4]</a></td><td><p class="first last pfirst">The requirement that the voter be able to read (or write) +<em class="italics">and</em> interpret satisfactorily, in the Virginia registration +requirement before 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 <em class="italics">Senator Daniels of Virginia</em> 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.</p> +</td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> +<p class="pnext">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 dishonesty. Rev. Edgar +Gardiner Murphy, Executive Secretary of the Southern Education Board, a +distinguished witness, testifying 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 abundant +corroboration may easily be had<a class="footnote-reference pginternal" href="#id11" id="id10"><sup>5</sup></a>.</p> +<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" rules="none" id="id11"> +<colgroup><col class="label"/><col/></colgroup> +<tbody valign="top"> +<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref pginternal" href="#id10">[5]</a></td><td><p class="first pfirst">The following clipping from the Baltimore American, I +cannot refrain from reading:—</p> +<p class="last pnext">"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 +interpretation 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 last week could themselves give an intelligent +interpretation of any section 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 professors of constitutional history these men would +make!"</p> +</td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> +<p class="pnext">The fact as well as the extent of disfranchisement is revealed +by the statistical summaries:—</p> +<p class="center pnext"><strong class="bold">STATISTICAL SUMMARIES</strong></p> +<table class="align-center table" style="margin-left: 20%; width: 60%" summary="1900 voting population data." id="table-1"> +<caption class="level-2 pfirst table-title title"> +<em class="italics">TABLE</em> 1</caption> +<colgroup> +<col width="33%"/> +<col width="33%"/> +<col width="33%"/> +</colgroup> +<thead valign="bottom"> +<tr class="first last"><th class="head" colspan="3"><p class="first last pfirst">ADULT MALE OR COLORED VOTING POPULATION, +1900, ESTIMATED AT 1 IN 4.3.</p> +</th> +</tr> +</thead> +<tbody valign="top"> +<tr class="first"><td><p class="first last pfirst">Virginia</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">660,722 ÷ 4.3 =</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">46,122.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Nor. Car.</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">624,469 ÷ 4.3 =</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">127,114.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">South Car.</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">782,321 ÷ 4.3 =</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">152,860.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Alabama</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">827,307 ÷ 4.3 =</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">181,471.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Mississippi</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">907,630 ÷ 4.3 =</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">197,936.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Louisiana</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">650,804 ÷ 4.3 =</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">147,348.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr class="last"><td><p class="first last pfirst">Total</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"> </td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">4,453,251.</p> +</td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> +<table class="align-center table" style="margin-left: 10%; width: 80%" summary="1888-1900 census data." id="table-2"> +<caption class="level-2 pfirst table-title title"> +<em class="italics">TABLE</em> 2</caption> +<colgroup> +<col width="25%"/> +<col width="25%"/> +<col width="25%"/> +<col width="25%"/> +</colgroup> +<thead valign="bottom"> +<tr class="first last"><th class="head" colspan="4"><p class="first last pfirst">CENSUS OF NEGROES BEFORE PASSAGE OF +REVISED CONSTITUTIONS.</p> +</th> +</tr> +</thead> +<tbody valign="top"> +<tr class="first"><td><p class="first last pfirst">Virginia</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">1900</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">115,865</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">(T.Al.)</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Nor. Car.</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">"</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">133,081</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">"</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">South Car.</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">1892</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">13,384</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">"</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Alabama</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">1900</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">55,512</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">Pres.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Mississippi</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">1888</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">30,096</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"> </td> +</tr> +<tr class="last"><td><p class="first last pfirst">Louisiana</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">1888</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">30,701</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"> </td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> +<table class="align-center table" style="margin-left: 10%; width: 80%" summary="1900-1904 census data." id="table-3"> +<caption class="level-2 pfirst table-title title"> +<em class="italics">TABLE</em> 3</caption> +<colgroup> +<col width="25%"/> +<col width="25%"/> +<col width="25%"/> +<col width="25%"/> +</colgroup> +<thead valign="bottom"> +<tr class="first last"><th class="head" colspan="4"><p class="first last pfirst">CENSUS OF NEGROES AFTER PASSAGE OF +REVISED CONSTITUTIONS.</p> +</th> +</tr> +</thead> +<tbody valign="top"> +<tr class="first"><td><p class="first last pfirst">Virginia</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">1904</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">47,880</p> +</td> +<td><p class="first last pfirst">(W. Al.)</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Nor. Car.</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">"</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">82,442</p> +</td> +<td><p class="first last pfirst">"</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">So. Car.</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">1900</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">3,579</p> +</td> +<td><p class="first last pfirst">Pres. (T.)</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">So. Car.</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">1904</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">2,554</p> +</td> +<td><p class="first last pfirst">Pres. (W. Al.)</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Alabama</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">1904</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">22,472</p> +</td> +<td><p class="first last pfirst">(W. Al.)</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Miss.</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">1900</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">5,753</p> +</td> +<td><p class="first last pfirst">Pres. (T. Al.)</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Miss.</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">1904</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">3,189</p> +</td> +<td><p class="first last pfirst">Pres. (W. Al.)</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Louisiana</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">1900</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">14,234</p> +</td> +<td><p class="first last pfirst">Pres. (T. Al.)</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr class="last"><td><p class="first last pfirst">Louisiana</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: justify"><p class="first last pfirst">1904</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">5,205</p> +</td> +<td><p class="first last pfirst">Pres. (W. Al.)</p> +</td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> +<table class="align-center table" style="margin-left: 10%; width: 80%" summary="Registration of colored voters." id="table-4"> +<caption class="level-2 pfirst table-title title"> +<em class="italics">TABLE</em> 4</caption> +<colgroup> +<col width="33%"/> +<col width="33%"/> +<col width="33%"/> +</colgroup> +<thead valign="bottom"> +<tr class="first"><th class="head" colspan="3"><p class="first last pfirst">REGISTRATION OF COLORED VOTERS. (Newspaper estimate.)</p> +</th> +</tr> +<tr class="last"><th class="head"><p class="first last pfirst">State</p> +</th> +<th class="head" style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">Literate</p> +</th> +<th class="head" style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst"><em class="italics">Registered</em></p> +</th> +</tr> +</thead> +<tbody valign="top"> +<tr class="first"><td><p class="first last pfirst">Virginia</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">equal 69,358</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"> </td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">North Carolina</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">59,625</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst"><em class="italics">"Less than 6,000"</em></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">South Carolina</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">69,242</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"> </td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Alabama</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">73,474</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst"><em class="italics">"Hardly 2,500"</em></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Mississippi</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">92,605</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"> </td> +</tr> +<tr class="last"><td><p class="first last pfirst">Louisiana</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">57,086</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst"><em class="italics">"1,147"</em></p> +</td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> +<table class="align-center table" style="margin-left: 0%; width: 100%" summary="1872-1904 Republican vote in the six states." id="table-5"> +<caption class="level-2 pfirst table-title title"> +<em class="italics">TABLE</em> 5</caption> +<colgroup> +<col width="14%"/> +<col width="14%"/> +<col width="14%"/> +<col width="14%"/> +<col width="14%"/> +<col width="14%"/> +<col width="14%"/> +</colgroup> +<thead valign="bottom"> +<tr class="first"><th class="head" colspan="7"><p class="first last pfirst">REPUBLICAN VOTE IN THE SIX STATES; VOTE AFTER +DISFRANCHISEMENT SCORED. (World Almanac of 1904.)</p> +</th> +</tr> +<tr class="last"><th class="head"><p class="first last pfirst">YEAR</p> +</th> +<th class="head" style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">VA.</p> +</th> +<th class="head" style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">NORTH +CAR.</p> +</th> +<th class="head" style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">SOUTH +CAR.</p> +</th> +<th class="head" style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">ALA.</p> +</th> +<th class="head" style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">MISS.</p> +</th> +<th class="head" style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">LA.</p> +</th> +</tr> +</thead> +<tbody valign="top"> +<tr class="first"><td><p class="first last pfirst">1872</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">93,468</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">94,783</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">72,290</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">90,272</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">82,175</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">59,975</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">1876</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">76,093</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">108,419</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">92,081</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">68,230</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">52,605</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">75,315</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">1880</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">83,639</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">115,874</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">58,071</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">56,178</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">34,854</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">38,016</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">1884</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">139,356</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">125,068</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">21,733</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">59,144</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">43,509</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">46,347</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">1888</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">150,438</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">134,784</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">13,736</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">57,197</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">30,096</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">30,701</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">1892</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">113,217</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">100,846</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">13,384</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">9,197</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">1,406</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">26,563</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">1900</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">115,865</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">133,081</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">3,579</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">55,512</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">5,753</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">14,234</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr class="last"><td><p class="first last pfirst">1904</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">47,880</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">82,442</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">2,554</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">22,472</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">3,189</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">5,205</p> +</td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> +<!-- --> +<blockquote><div> +<div class="line-block smaller"> +<div class="line"> +1872, 1876, Va., N.C., S.C., Ala. (Tribune Almanac of 1896.)</div> +<div class="line"> +1872, Louisiana (World Almanac.)</div> +<div class="line"> +1892, Louisiana (Republican and Populists.)</div> +<div class="line"> +1892, N.C.; 1900, 1904 (Due to Populists.)</div> +</div> +</div></blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">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 declarations, +applauded, fresh evidence is given that these Southern 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. <em class="italics">It is not then in +the ignorance, laziness, and vice of the Negro, that the white South +trusts, for the continuance of her policy, but in his defencelessness.</em></p> +<p class="pnext"><em class="italics">To these Southern men, we can make but one reply. Unmistakably our +courage is the issue.</em> But before considering how best to treat their +sinister challenge, let us answer to the Republican party the question: +What does justice to the Negro demand? 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 political rights, as Tennyson to +the Creator of his being:—</p> +<blockquote><div> +<div class="line-block"> +<div class="line"> +Thou wilt not leave us in the dust;</div> +<div class="line"> +Thou madest man, he <em class="italics">knows</em> not why;</div> +<div class="line"> +He thinks he was not made to die;</div> +<div class="line"> +And Thou hast made him,—Thou art just.</div> +</div> +</div></blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">Is it then fair to leave to us the vindication of the Reconstruction +policy against men of the South, the North and even influential 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 foundation 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 honorable inscriptions recorded on +their tombs? When men talk of 'the greatest error of Reconstruction,' +has the murder of Lincoln no claim to the place? Does not John Wilkes +Booth better merit derisive canonizing than "Saint" John Brown? If it +was irony 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 generations, was it not +also irony to punish and re-enslave by vagrancy laws the men who without +an acre or a dollar were now <em class="italics">called</em> free?</p> +<p class="pnext">And if it <em class="italics">was</em> hate, and revenge, and folly, which brought about the +'War Amendments,' can they be honorably withdrawn now? Is there no +doctrine in law, which forbids one's renouncing 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 +gratitude bade him trust and follow, he should lose it forever? Is this +the Eden where we met our "fall?" A sober Anglo-Saxon definition of +justice is given by Sidgwick: "Justice is realized (1) in the observance +of law, and contracts, and definite understandings, 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.<a class="footnote-reference pginternal" href="#id13" id="id12"><sup>6</sup></a></p> +<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" rules="none" id="id13"> +<colgroup><col class="label"/><col/></colgroup> +<tbody valign="top"> +<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref pginternal" href="#id12">[6]</a></td><td><p class="first last pfirst">Here is an instance of a President's devotion to existing +laws: <strong class="bold">With the Confederate government fully installed two weeks +before</strong>,—Lincoln said in his inaugural address, that "he had no +purpose directly 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?</p> +</td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> +<p class="pnext">But yet again are we brought back to the ignorance, 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 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.<a class="footnote-reference pginternal" href="#id15" id="id14"><sup>7</sup></a> Progress in earning and saving +corresponded. 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?</p> +<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" rules="none" id="id15"> +<colgroup><col class="label"/><col/></colgroup> +<tbody valign="top"> +<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref pginternal" href="#id14">[7]</a></td><td><p class="first pfirst">Per cent. of illiteracy.</p> +<p class="pnext">Colored population in 1860 4,441,830.</p> +<p class="pnext">Of this about 9 per cent. (488,070) was free—perhaps ½ of this +was literate, i.e., about 5 per cent. of the whole.</p> +<blockquote><div> +<p class="pfirst">Equal 95 per cent. or higher.</p> +</div></blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">Colored population above 10 years in 1870 equal whole +population, 4,880,009, less 28.7 per cent. equals under 10 +leaving 3,464,806. Above 10, unable to write, 2,789,689.</p> +<blockquote><div> +<p class="pfirst">Equal 80 per cent.</p> +</div></blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">Colored population above 10 years in 1880 4,601,207. Above 10, +unable to write, 3,220,878.</p> +<blockquote><div> +<p class="pfirst">Equal 70 per cent.</p> +</div></blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">Colored population above 10 years in 1890 5,328,972. Above 10, +unable to write, 3,042,668.</p> +<blockquote><div> +<p class="pfirst">Equal 57.1 per cent.</p> +</div></blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">Colored population above 10 years in 1900 6,415,581. Above 10, +unable to write, 2,853,194.</p> +<blockquote class="last"><div> +<p class="pfirst">Equal 44.5 per cent.</p> +</div></blockquote> +</td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> +<p class="pnext">Is it credible that our millions lived under the benign influence of +slavery, almost without crime and continued even after the Emancipation +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 violence: 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 benignity +of slavery. But will they admit the third? "Nine tenths of the illicit +gains," says James Bryce, speaking of Reconstruction, "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 themselves the +more lucrative offices, and lived upon the public treasury, public +contracts and their easy control of affairs. For the Negroes there was +nothing but occasional allotments of abandoned or forfeited land, the +pay of petty offices, a per-diem allowance as members of the +conventions, and the state legislatures, which their new masters made +business for, or the wages of servants in the various offices of +administration. Their ignorance 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 increase and +idleness unless their growth is checked by the restoration 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 milder ones have failed, one +sickens at the prospect. Can Southern, abetted by Northern men strew the +earth with the seeds of accursed 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 departure of +lynching waits for two events: the breeding of the animal out the most +wretched Negroes until they find greater satisfaction 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 devil. +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 pointing downward, lower the victim farther +with every struggle. At its bottom a charnel heap, poisoning the air. +Such plants flourish amidst civilization, and millions are their +victims, who debauch their appetites until their intellects shrink to +the size of their already shrunken consciences, and they are helpless to +do anything but die. Liberty <em class="italics">is</em> perilous, a very 'valley of the shadow +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, Assyria, Judea, Greece, +Rome—the history of every nation is a light-house marking a <em class="italics">reef</em> in +the harbor of humanity.</p> +<p class="pnext">When Cain had killed Abel, he hid the body, and when God called, +replied, "Am I my brother's keeper?" A chill foreboding 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 reached if there is felt more than before the need of answering the +latter question.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 republic endures, the +executive, legislative and judicial powers will obey the people's will. +To this oracle the rulers have again appealed, and its answer has been +an expression of renewed and increased 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 Congress, or Supreme +Court; to the 14th or 15th amendment, for the righting of our wrongs.</p> +<p class="pnext">Congress is empowered to enforce the 14th and 15th amendments by +appropriate legislation. Such legislation has been enacted and by one +President, at least, enforced. But, now, it is held that it must be +shown that the amendments are being violated, and this cannot be done +until the Supreme Court fully interprets them. What a mockery it has all +become! Insolently, sneeringly, the violators of the plain intent of 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 them +aside. By law, or by force, colored men are being deprived 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 revised 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 elections,—an abuse +which the State permits, but which the State does not necessitate or +prescribe, brings the State within reach of the penalties of the +Constitution."</p> +<p class="pnext">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 profitably 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 reversed the policy outlined by its Committee on +Elections, whose concluding words in the Dantzler-Lever case +follow:—</p> +<blockquote><div> +<p class="pfirst">"However 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 constitution +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.</p> +<p class="pnext">"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 +that the 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">"On the contrary, the decision of the House of +Representatives upon this grave judicial question would not +be considered as binding or effective in any case except the +one acted upon or as a precedent for future action in the +House itself.</p> +<p class="pnext">"A majority of the Committee on Elections No. v doubt the +propriety in any event of denying these Southern States +representation 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 believe 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 invalid.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Some of the members of the committee believe the "fundamental +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.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Your Committee on Elections No. i therefore respectively +recommend the adoption of the following resolution:</p> +<p class="pnext">"'<em class="italics">Resolved</em>. That Alexander D. Dantzler was not elected a +member of the Fifty-eighth Congress from the Seventh +Congressional district of South Carolina, and is not entitled +to a seat therein.'"</p> +</div></blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">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.)</p> +<blockquote><div> +<p class="pfirst">"It is apparent that the thing complained of, so far as it +involves rights secured under the Federal Constitution, is the +action 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 <em class="italics">Giles v. Harris, supra</em>.</p> +<p class="pnext">"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 +constitutional 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 opinion that plaintiffs in error have not brought the +cases within the statute giving to this court the right of +review."</p> +</div></blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">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 Von Holst has said: "The wit of man is not equal to +the task in the shaping of political life of inventing forms which may +not be employed as weapons against their own legitimate substance or +contents." The law, it might be added, without strong-siding conscience, +is a mere magician's handkerchief, and surely we can no longer think of +ante-election promises embodied in the Republican party platform as +binding obligations.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 necessity." Mere agitation, we know will not suffice. The +country is not floating upon a rising tide of indignation at the +unjustness of our treatment, as it was fifty years ago. And even if the +doing of justice hung upon the casting of a die, 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">Resolved, therefore, that we strive for all happiness whatsoever, which +may be fairly won. A good name and a level glance from those around us +are essentials of happiness. If that is social 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 +conveyances, 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?<a class="footnote-reference pginternal" href="#id17" id="id16"><sup>8</sup></a> There is an upward slope from slavery, 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 <em class="italics">is +foolish</em> then to <em class="italics">demand</em> the concession of social equality; but it +is quite as <em class="italics">cowardly</em> 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.</p> +<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" rules="none" id="id17"> +<colgroup><col class="label"/><col/></colgroup> +<tbody valign="top"> +<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref pginternal" href="#id16">[8]</a></td><td><p class="first pfirst">That public conveyances come within the social sphere is +asserted by Burgess: Reconstruction and the Constitution pp. 150——</p> +<p class="last pnext">"During the winter and spring of 1867-8 the work of these +conventions 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 <strong class="bold">in +some cases, in advantages of a social character, such as equal +privileges in public conveyances etc."</strong>)</p> +</td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> +<p class="pnext">Not only, however, our indomitable instinct, but an urgent reason makes +this our foremost consideration. National responsibilities, great civic +or industrial responsibilities we are as yet cut off from. Through +<em class="italics">private relations then we must educate ourselves to the realization, +that only through the just performance of duties can true rights be +won</em>. 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 behind among the race ahead, or those left behind +among our own. We must face sex inequality and class inequality among +ourselves, <em class="italics">lest we bitterly denounce others' injustice when the same +spirit of uncharitableness is deep buried in our own natures</em>.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 jealously to that social order which provides a +place for another more 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">And with women are joined the poor. <em class="italics">They</em> bar our way to industrial +employment; they stand guard over the polls. Why? Because they have +learned uncharitableness in the school of bitter experience; because +they, who have themselves never known aught but inequality, cannot even +<em class="italics">think</em> of an even balance between men. <em class="italics">Of little avail, then, the +wisdom and bounty of the few enlightened, when the serried ranks of the +masses bar our upward way</em>.... As each occasion of hardship or slight +works upon 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 discontent, +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 themselves make haste to profit by it. +The greater our show of progress,—the more active 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 wisdom will prevail; for the +best among ourselves know how difficult it is to be just and wise. Let +us who know the way to justice 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">Resolved, secondly, that we will continue to form party ties from +fundamental principle and not momentary prospect of advantage. Last of +all classes, can we afford to consider trimming our political sails to +catch a chance breeze. Before it can even be granted that we hold the +actual balance of power, this opportunism must have become our settled +policy,—else we are <em class="italics">not</em> 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 Republican 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 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">Resolved, thirdly, that we will contend for the political and social +rights we crave, by modern rules of war, using every protective 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 secret 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 +<em class="italics">even</em> such means to those whom oppression has made desperate, but for +whom imitation would spell merciless revenge 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">On the other hand, no reasonable precaution should be left untaken. 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 organization, which, however is only +worthful when there is real community of interest and feeling. These it +will be hard to secure 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 leading up to the +15th Amendment forbade restriction of the franchise on account of creed, +ignorance or poverty. These additions 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 higher—it strengthens the Republic. Appealing as we now do to +central authority, embodied in the Republican party, we help +unconsciously 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 municipal 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 Republic. To the man <em class="italics">who works</em>, the +man who <em class="italics">wants and consumes</em>, 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 <em class="italics">more</em> +than a mere man to get standing in her courts.</p> +<p class="pnext">By such protective measures we may so shield ourselves from attack, that +if any should wish to destroy us they must first destroy 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 corporate 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 opportunities, 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. <em class="italics">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.</em> 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, gathers wood, then cleanses himself from +all impurity before he approaches 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.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="the-negro-vote-in-the-states-whose-constitutions-have-not-been-specifically-revisedjohn-hope"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id20">The Negro Vote in the States Whose Constitutions Have Not Been Specifically Revised—<em class="italics">JOHN HOPE</em></a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">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 said and to wish that if there is +anything that has not yet 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 +helpful to hear your own thoughts expressed by some one else. With this +possibility of doing a service, I apologize for having consented 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">The State of Georgia probably shows as little revulsion and reversion of +sentiment and law as any distinctly Southern state, except perhaps +Texas, since the Reconstruction period. Republican rule was short lived +and, while it remained, was less aggressive and revolutionary than in +other states. The population has been fairly evenly divided between the +two races with a majority 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 +information, 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 for Colored people.</p> +<p class="pnext">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.</p> +<p class="pnext">Georgia had only one Republican governor, and sent to the National House +of Representatives at least one Colored Representative. But for many +years, even this has been a thing of the past. White men have held all +offices, occasionally having the monotony of complexion broken by a +Colored representative from Camden, McIntosh or Liberty county in the +state legislature.</p> +<p class="pnext">The passing of the Republican party in the state as an aggressive +elective organization has been due to several causes, but so hidden and +studied have two of them been, so free from shotguns, leaving out, of +course, the Ku Klux and Patrollers of the '60'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 revolutionary and sudden rather than gradual. +You will notice that I say Republican party, for when the Colored vote +was most effective 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">Then the Colored vote began to divide on Democratic candidates and was +exceedingly effective, holding the balance of power, as it did, in +choosing white Democratic governors, congressmen, state legislators, +city and county officers. This went well for awhile, but white +office-seekers soon began to fear this Colored balance of power. They +wanted their certainty of a majority of the white vote to guarantee +their office; so the Georgia legislature 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 Democratic party +assembled in State Convention when it decided that candidates 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 embarrassment, the Democratic +party there decided to have a <em class="italics">white</em> primary. In one of these +communities a colored 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 his +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 courteous gentleman, "but George, this is a <em class="italics">white</em> primary." +This colored 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, avowedly Republicans, have not only +been permitted but even requested to participate in the primaries of the +Democratic and Populist parties.</p> +<p class="pnext">The reason for the elasticity of the primary is quite evident, that is, +why Colored people are allowed to take part in the primary in one +community and not in another, or why they are allowed at one time to +vote and at another time in that same community are not allowed to vote. +The purpose is to have the Colored voters as a harmless balance of power +between the Democrats 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 measures thus far.</p> +<p class="pnext">But the most flagrant high-handedness and palpable confession of purpose +on the part of white people with reference to our citizenship 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 ordinary subterfuges would not +fulfill the requirement. Darien and St. Mary's are two coast towns with +a large Colored population. The mayor and aldermen are not elected by +the voters in these towns; but, instead, these towns enjoy the unique +distinction of being managed by officials appointed by the governor of +the State. What is more simple; what more high-handed; what more +un-Democratic and subversive of national principles of government than +this?</p> +<p class="pnext">Now let us ask the question: Can the Colored man cast his ballot in +Georgia?</p> +<p class="pnext">In the first place, any party of any race may hold a primary.</p> +<p class="pnext">Second, any man of any party or race may vote in the <em class="italics">general</em> election +for any candidate he may wish.</p> +<p class="pnext">Let us ask next, whether these ballots will be counted? That depends +entirely upon whether the need is to count them or destroy 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 power may do what it chooses.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 policies 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 competing with +white labor.</p> +<p class="pnext">Then there is another side that really has its argument, effective, +though perhaps not very logical. The fact that we are, as a people, +laborers and not capitalists, makes us, as any other people similarly +placed would be, under obligation to the capitalist who, in our case, +are white. The point is made that to enter politics against the wishes +of this people would raise such antagonism 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 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 alderman in my ward, although I am a registered +voter, have paid my poll tax and voted for President Roosevelt. I know +of nothing more benumbing to us as citizens than this deprivation. Men +who are philosophic may consider matters that are not of material +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 honesty 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 ballot, but that for our arrogance the appropriation +for Colored public 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 reason for +not causing such antagonism as would arise from Colored men endeavoring +to enter aggressively into politics again.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 constitutional disfranchisement and that +<em class="italics">quasi</em> disfranchisement effective for all practical purposes such as we +have spoken of as now obtaining 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 +races alike; while in the states possessing constitutional +disfranchisement, 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">Now, do we really have to fear disfranchisement? I say disfranchisement +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 occasion 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 founded upon the spirit +of injustice and that same spirit 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 +constitutional 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 setting 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."</p> +<p class="pnext">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 disappointed, although +good sense has thus far triumphed. Then again 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 +Republicans, to-day it is to Negroes. It is not a party line, but a race +line.</p> +<p class="pnext">Now the white primary has not done all that was claimed for it. In the +first place it has not purified elections. Far from doing 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 ability 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 easily 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 colored as well as white were in the +market yet those interested in "fixing" elections can now work with more +assurance; and promises may more easily be carried out in the matter of +delivering the goods.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 jobbery 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">What are the possibilities of white aspirants bolting the primary? It is +my impression that they are fewer than they were twenty years ago. Judge +Gartrell once ran independently against 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 compassed 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 prefers the yoke to extermination.</p> +<p class="pnext">But, suppose there should be a general Democratic "rough house" and the +colored vote should be called in to quell the disturbance, 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 +legitimate expenses of a campaign; third, the injustice of the party in +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 extra trouble to which they would put the ascendant +party might result in still further curtailment of the few rights still +left to us.</p> +<p class="pnext">To all of this the side that clamors or appears to clamor for a ticket +says: You assume too much, you see ghosts. Yet supposing the worst, it +is far better to keep Colored voters organized for several reasons: +first, because the organization gives a valuable training in citizenship +that cannot be gained by standing aloof and waiting for better things; +second, because if an opening should come suddenly, the Colored people +would be better able to decide quickly and intelligently where to throw +their strength solidly on one side or another for their own best +interests 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 cause—our +efficient, powerful champions, who have grown doubtful 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 temperament, attitude and unlimited power of +the white people, to say which one of these two courses is the more +rational and helpful to pursue.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 furnish a +lot and agree to appropriate one thousand dollars <em class="italics">per annum</em> for the +maintenance of the library. The whole matter has been tabled and the +Colored people have no redress, since their mayor and aldermen were +elected without the Colored vote. Do you suppose the city of Atlanta +would have refused so paltry a favor, if its city council were dependent +upon our vote?</p> +<p class="pnext">Not only have we lost influence among the law makers but among those who +interpret the law and administer justice. Neither judge nor jury has +to consult the Colored man's wish. This independence of us makes the +court a place of injustice as frequently as of justice, and policemen +may be cruel with impunity.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 teachers has been lowered.</p> +<p class="pnext">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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 question: Are there some things to be effected +that are of more vital interest to Colored people at present than the +ballot?</p> +<p class="pnext">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 preacher said recently 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 +southern clergyman in his exhortation to Colored people to be good +Negroes, told them not to get mad about "Jim Crow" cars and to be slow +to urge their rights. Said he: "You Colored people are undertaking a +heavy task when you attempt to reform the Anglo-Saxon." Now our present +needs are numerous and vital, many growing out of the curtailment of +privileges, a condition made possible through our lack of the ballot. +Many Colored men believe that we can get these needs supplied most +quickly and surely by begging and not resorting to a futile ballot; +many, moreover, think that the voting would retard the granting of these +much needed privileges. On the other hand, others say our condition +grows steadily worse and our only redress, our only hope, is in the +ballot.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 successful 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 +forwardness 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." Away 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 tremendous difference.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 ballot. I see no difference +in purpose between the states that have outrightly disfranchised us and +those states that do it stealthily or by indirection.</p> +<p class="pnext">I believe that the purpose of all is the same: a hatred for Colored +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 <em class="italics">could</em> become a deterring force to +disfranchisement. In the face of all this, why <em class="italics">delay</em> voting in the +hope of better things; better <em class="italics">welcome</em> disfranchisement as <em class="italics">men</em> than +<em class="italics">suffer</em> from it as <em class="italics">cowards</em>.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="the-potentiality-of-the-negro-vote-north-and-westjohn-l-love"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id21">The Potentiality of the Negro Vote, North and West—<em class="italics">JOHN L. LOVE</em></a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">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 governments 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">In the North Atlantic, the North Central, and the Western census +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 exceeds 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 +almost an even balance of the two chief parties, the Negro vote is +competent to decide the results of election. In the states of Delaware +Indiana, Ohio, Connecticut, New Jersey, and several districts in New +York, Massachusetts, and Illinois, a united, coherent Negro vote may +frequently determine both local and national elections. This is shown by +the returns in 1902 for Congressional 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 +dissatisfaction 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 commercial +and manufacturing centers of the North and West furnish undoubted +opportunities for the Negro vote to make itself felt and to win regard +and respect as far away as the United States Senate.</p> +<p class="pnext">The foregoing facts and considerations suggest interesting possibilities +and, in view of the conditions affecting the political, civil, 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">The chief tenet of modern political philosophy is that the participation +of the people in the government is the only way by which their liberties +can be guaranteed and their economic and industrial happiness +safeguarded. Out of this conviction which has taken hold of men almost +everywhere has resulted in the universal movement towards democracy. The +democratic triumph which has marked the past hundred years and has been +accompanied by marvelous achievements of human endeavor—achievements +which could not have been accomplished except under conditions of +freedom—has not been won without stupendous struggle and temporary +defeats and disappointments. At every forward step, the movement has +encountered unrelenting and seemingly irresistible opposition of +privilege. Even here in the United States where, barring absurd +contradictions, the spirit of democracy began so conspicuously to assert +itself under the fostering 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 +rehabilitate itself, it is bold enough to make the ridiculous assertion +that the right of suffrage, even in a republican form of government, is +not a natural and inherent right of citizenship, but merely a privilege +to be granted or withheld at pleasure by a select few for whose assumed +authority no power on earth or in heaven is responsible.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 exercised the right of +participation in government, special privilege for the few has had to +give way to the condition of equal opportunity for all. Abuses have been +swept away and the door of opportunity has been opened for all. Thus has +the ballot proven to be man's sure and effective weapon of defense +against tyranny and proscriptive government.</p> +<p class="pnext">All classes of our varied population, with possibly one exception, have +recognized this truth and have acted in accordance with it. German, +Irish, Jew; artisan, farmer and merchant—all have found the ballot a +remedy for social, economic, and political ills that have had their +origin in unjust laws or the partial administration of law. All have +used it with wonderful effect towards the betterment 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 governmental 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 yeomanry of +the Northwest that a check be placed upon railroad combinations 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 underground toilers of the mining +regions of Pennsylvania and Illinois know that their grievances will +receive the same respectful attention and consideration as the mandates +of the coal barons, and they systematically scrutinize the attitude and +the actions of public 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 citizenship; 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 chastisements of a benificent ruler. Of all the complex elements +of American citizenship, the Negro is the solitary victim of legal, +social, industrial, and political discrimination. He alone is singled +out by the law for disparagement which fact encourages and enforces 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 government, he is +equally amenable with other citizens; but 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 short-comings. If +the homilies published from the pulpits, in the press, and even +sometimes from the higher branches of the government are to be believed, +the Negro is the most unsaintly citizen of the republic, in spite of the +fact that he seldom commits "the robust crimes of the whites" or has the +chance to defraud the government, to wreck financial institutions, or +rob widows and orphans.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 humiliations and wrongs which oppress +and degrade the great mass of his kind, feels their bitter sting and +resents them. In public assemblies, 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 +conversation and reflection; and the perennial and ever present question +in the minds of all, whether of low or high degree, is <em class="italics">By what means +can the situation be altered?</em> 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 respect and consideration for their interest +and well being as any other class of men who register their wills at the +ballot-box.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 in +the North and West in times of party 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 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 consequently he is not inclined to disdain a +single voter. His interests 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 +interests 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 party 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 vital 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 independence 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 statement of principles or policy +which is ignored after a successful contest, reprisal should be swift +and terrible as soon as the opportunity permits.</p> +<p class="pnext">In the third place, the Negro vote of the North and West needs, if it +does not at present lack, intelligent, honest, straightforward, and +unselfish leadership. Until it has this, its potentiality will be <em class="italics">nil</em>.</p> +<p class="pnext">To impute dishonesty or insincerity to those who from time to time act +in the role of leaders of the Negro voters would be unpardonably +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 +vital 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">Redress of political wrongs is not the fruit of grim and sanctimonious +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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 insinuating politician. The silent vote is a +greater dread to the party leaders than was the sword to Damocles.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 concern +it.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 fellow 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 well-being and safety of the republic and must +require all men who seek his vote to consider it likewise.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 appeals to the enthusiasm and +civic pride of the nation. From all corners of the state have come +delegations of citizens representing 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 people. 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 black 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 desert 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.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="migration-and-distribution-of-the-negro-population-as-affecting-the-elective-franchisekelly-miller"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id22">Migration and Distribution of the Negro Population as Affecting the Elective Franchise—<em class="italics">KELLY MILLER</em></a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">Population lies at the basis of all human problems. The first command +given by the Creator to the human race was to multiply 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 Jamestown, Va. in 1619. This original handful augmented by fresh +importation 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 expansion of +this population.</p> +<table class="align-center table" style="margin-left: 0%; width: 100%" summary="1790-1900 U. S. population data." id="table-6"> +<caption class="level-2 pfirst table-title title"> +<em class="italics">TABLE</em> 6</caption> +<colgroup> +<col width="20%"/> +<col width="20%"/> +<col width="20%"/> +<col width="20%"/> +<col width="20%"/> +</colgroup> +<thead valign="bottom"> +<tr class="first"><th class="head" colspan="5"><p class="first last pfirst">NEGRO POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES.</p> +</th> +</tr> +<tr class="last"><th class="head"><p class="first last pfirst">YEAR.</p> +</th> +<th class="head" style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">NUMBER +OF +NEGROES.</p> +</th> +<th class="head" style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">DECENNIAL +INCREASE.</p> +</th> +<th class="head" style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">PER +CENT +OF +INCR.</p> +</th> +<th class="head" style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">PER +CENT +OF +TOTAL +POPUL.</p> +</th> +</tr> +</thead> +<tbody valign="top"> +<tr class="first"><td><p class="first last pfirst">1790</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">757,208</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">-</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">-</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">19.27</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">1800</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">1,002,037</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">244,829</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">32.33</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">18.18</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">1810</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">1,377,808</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">375,771</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">37.50</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">19.03</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">1820</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">1,771,656</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">393,848</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">28.50</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">18.39</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">1830</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">2,328,642</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">556,986</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">31.44</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">18.10</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">1840</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">2,873,648</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">545,006</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">23.44</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">16.84</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">1850</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">3,683,808</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">765,169</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">26.63</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">15.69</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">1860</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">4,441,830</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">803,022</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">14.13</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">14.13</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">1870</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">4,880,009</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">438,179</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">9.87</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">11.68</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">1880</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">6,580,793</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">1,700,784</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">34.85</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">13.12</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">1890</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">7,470,040</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">889,247</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">13.51</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">11.93</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr class="last"><td><p class="first last pfirst">1900</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">8,840,789</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">1,370,749</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">18.35</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">11.57</p> +</td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> +<p class="pfirst">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 rapidly 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 +1860. 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 require more than one hundred years to +reduce the Negro to one-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.</p> +<p class="pnext">From the foundation of our government the Negro has constituted a +serious political problem, mainly because of his unequal geographical +distribution. If agricultural and economic conditions 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">While there has been a steady stream of Negro immigration towards the +North and West, yet it has not been sufficient to materially affect the +mass tendency. It would seem, on first view, that the Negro who +complains so bitterly against political restrictions 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 industrial 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 single county +in Tennessee.</p> +<table class="align-center table" style="margin-left: 0%; width: 100%" summary="North/South U.S. population data." id="table-7"> +<caption class="level-2 pfirst table-title title"> +<em class="italics">TABLE</em> 7</caption> +<colgroup> +<col width="25%"/> +<col width="25%"/> +<col width="25%"/> +<col width="25%"/> +</colgroup> +<thead valign="bottom"> +<tr class="first last"><th class="head"><p class="first last pfirst">SECTION.</p> +</th> +<th class="head" style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">POPULATION.</p> +</th> +<th class="head" style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">INCREASE, +1890 TO +1900</p> +</th> +<th class="head" style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">RATE +OF +INCR.</p> +</th> +</tr> +</thead> +<tbody valign="top"> +<tr class="first"><td><p class="first last pfirst">United States</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">8,840,789</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">1,370,749</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">18.35</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Georgia</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">1,034,813</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">175,998</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">20.50</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Mississippi</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">907,630</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">165,071</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">22.20</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Alabama</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">827,307</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">148,818</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">21.90</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">So. Carolina</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">782,321</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">93,387</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">13.60</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr class="last"><td><p class="first last pfirst">31 Northern +States</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">759,788</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">181,876</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">31.50</p> +</td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> +<p class="pfirst">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 Georgia. 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 guarantee 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 amendments 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. Owing 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 congressmen. 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.</p> +<table class="align-center table" style="margin-left: 15%; width: 70%" summary="1890-1900 voting age males." id="table-8"> +<caption class="level-2 pfirst table-title title"> +<em class="italics">TABLE</em> 8</caption> +<colgroup> +<col width="33%"/> +<col width="33%"/> +<col width="33%"/> +</colgroup> +<thead valign="bottom"> +<tr class="first"><th class="head" colspan="3"><p class="first last pfirst">NEGRO MALES OF VOTING AGE +IN THE NORTHERN STATES.</p> +</th> +</tr> +<tr class="last"><th class="head"><p class="first last pfirst">STATE.</p> +</th> +<th class="head" style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">1890.</p> +</th> +<th class="head" style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">1900.</p> +</th> +</tr> +</thead> +<tbody valign="top"> +<tr class="first"><td><p class="first last pfirst">Pennsylvania</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">34,873</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">51,668</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">New York</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">24,231</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">31,425</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Illinois</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">18,200</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">29,762</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Ohio</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">25,922</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">31,235</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Indiana</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">13,079</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">18,186</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">New Jersey</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">14,564</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">21,474</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Massachusetts</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">7,967</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">10,456</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Rhode Island</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">2,261</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">2,765</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Connecticut</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">3,497</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">4,576</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Kansas</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">12,543</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">14,695</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr class="last"><td><p class="first last pfirst">Michigan</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">-</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">5,193</p> +</td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> +<p class="pfirst">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 importance 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 neutralizes its special significance.</p> +<table class="align-center table" style="margin-left: 25%; width: 50%" summary="Voters in Northern Cities." id="table-9"> +<caption class="level-2 pfirst table-title title"> +<em class="italics">TABLE</em> 9</caption> +<colgroup> +<col width="50%"/> +<col width="50%"/> +</colgroup> +<thead valign="bottom"> +<tr class="first"><th class="head" colspan="2"><p class="first last pfirst">NEGRO VOTERS IN NORTHERN +CITIES, 1900.</p> +</th> +</tr> +<tr class="last"><th class="head"><p class="first last pfirst">CITY</p> +</th> +<th class="head" style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">NEGROES +OF +VOTING AGE</p> +</th> +</tr> +</thead> +<tbody valign="top"> +<tr class="first"><td><p class="first last pfirst">Philadelphia</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">20,095</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">New York</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">18,651</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Chicago</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">12,424</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Pittsburg</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">6,541</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Indianapolis</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">5,200</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Boston</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">4,441</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr><td><p class="first last pfirst">Cincinnati</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">4,997</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr class="last"><td><p class="first last pfirst">Detroit</p> +</td> +<td style="text-align: right"><p class="first last pfirst">1,732</p> +</td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> +<p class="pfirst">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 support the +integrity of the constitution and its vital amendments.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="the-negro-and-his-citizenshipfrancis-j-grimke"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id23">The Negro and His Citizenship—<em class="italics">FRANCIS J. GRIMKÉ</em></a></h2> +<blockquote class="epigraph"><div> +<p class="pfirst">ACTS 22:25-29.—<em class="italics">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 uncondemned? And when the centurion +heard it, he went 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? And 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 +were about to examine him straightway departed from him: and the +chief captain also was afraid when he knew that he was a Roman, +and because he had bound him.</em></p> +</div></blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">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.</p> +<p class="pnext">I. Attention is directed to the fact that Paul was a Roman citizen. +Citizenship was a possession that was very highly esteemed, and that was +obtained in several ways,—by birth, by purchase, 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 citizen was death; this fact +together with the whole bearing of the apostle finally left no doubt in +his mind: he accepted his statement.</p> +<p class="pnext">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,—<em class="italics">Jus Quiritium</em>, and <em class="italics">Jus +Civitatis</em>. Among Private Rights, was the Right of Liberty. This secured +him against imprisonment without 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 of the empire; and also the right to be sent to Rome for trial +before the emperor, if charged with a capital offence.</p> +<p class="pnext">Among Public Rights belonging to Roman citizens the following may be +mentioned: (1) The right of being enrolled in the censor's book, called, +<em class="italics">Jus Census</em>. (2) The right of serving in the army, called, <em class="italics">Jus +Militiae</em>. At first only citizens of the empire were permitted to engage +in military operations, to bear arms and fight in its behalf. (3) The +right to vote in the different assemblies of the people, called, <em class="italics">Jus +Suffragii</em>. This has always 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 he tells us here, he was a citizen of the +empire.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 rehearsing 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 circumcise 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 +orderly, 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 teacheth all men everywhere against +the people, and the law, and this place; and moreover he brought Greeks +also into the temple and 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 actually tied up. The process of +examination proposed was very severe. 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 +sufferer a confession of his guilt or the information desired.</p> +<p class="pnext">If the chief captain had understood the Hebrew language, and could have +followed the address of the apostle which was delivered on the steps of +the palace, he would have understood what the trouble was, without +attempting to resort to this brutal method of finding out; but evidently +he did not. Everything indicated, 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 +against the law, it was the duty of the chief captain to take cognizance +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 release 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, instead 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">III. Attention is directed in the text to the fact, that the apostle +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 expressly forbade the scourging of Roman +citizens; it was an indignity 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 defence, 'Neither against +the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I +sinned at all.' But Festus, desiring to gain favor with the Jews, +answered Paul and said, 'Wilt thou go up to Jerusalem, and there be +judged of these things before me?' But Paul said, 'I 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 Caesar.' Then Festus, when he had +conferred with the council, answered, 'Thou hast appealed unto Caesar, +unto Caesar thou shalt go.'"</p> +<p class="pnext">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 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 Roman 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 perished; but the apostle stood upon his right, and so succeeded +in thwarting the purposes of his enemies.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 became 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 Roman?" and we see the chief captain coming in great haste and +saying 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 citizenship; 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 +citizenship 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 rights +with impunity: hence you will notice what is said here, "The chief +captain was afraid when he knew that he was a Roman 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 citizens of this +great Republic. The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution declares: +"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to +the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the +State wherein they reside." Under 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 +bravely as any 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 peril, of +danger, give any claim to citizenship, then our claim is beyond dispute; +for all these things are true of us.</p> +<p class="pnext">We are <em class="italics">citizens</em> of this great Republic: and citizenship is a sacred +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, in 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 Nation 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">And we ought to show our appreciation of it: (1). By being good +citizens; by doing everything in our power to develop ourselves along +right lines, intellectually, morally, spiritually, and also 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 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 community, 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 against us,—those who are parading our +short-comings and imperfections, who are giving the greatest publicity, +the widest circulation 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, "Credo," said among +other things, "I believe in the Devil and his angels, 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 +enemies 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 <em class="italics">we</em>, who have had +exceptional 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 <em class="italics">we</em> are to be their educators; it is through <em class="italics">us</em> 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 us ought to be a living example of the best +type of what a citizen ought to be.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 citizenship. I have no +patience with those who preach civil and political 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 +nonentity, entitled to no consideration, and with no refuge to which he +can fly in the hour of his need. To be civilly and politically effaced +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.</p> +<p class="pnext">We are <em class="italics">citizens</em> of this Republic: and I want to direct attention to +this fact for a moment; and I am glad of the opportunity of 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 righteousness; 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 irrespective 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 attitude in +regard to our rights under the Constitution. We are citizens, clothed +with citizenship rights; and, there is 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, <em class="italics">we</em> 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 called the radical wing of the race, on the race question: I +do not believe in compromises; in surrendering, or acquiescing, even +temporarily, in the deprivation of a single right, out of deference to +an unrighteous public sentiment. I believe with Lowell,</p> +<blockquote><div> +<div class="line-block"> +<div class="line"> +"They enslave their children's children,</div> +<div class="line"> +Who make compromise with sin."</div> +</div> +</div></blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">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 +children, 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, accorded 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 assured of: such will surely be our +fate unless we clearly comprehend the issue, and set ourselves earnestly +to work to counteract the movement, by resisting in every legitimate way +its consummation, and by using our influence to create a counter public +sentiment.</p> +<p class="pnext">What are some of these citizenship rights for which we should earnestly +contend?</p> +<p class="pnext">(1) 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 Negro 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 ruffian, 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 avail +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 he ought to resist; against which he ought to protest, +and continue to protest.</p> +<p class="pnext">(2) Another citizenship right is that of receiving equal accommodations +on all common carriers and in all hostelries; 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 Atlanta 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 learning; 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 +inferiority, 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. Everything 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, +particularly, not for the Jim Crow Negro, but for the intelligent, +progressive, self-respecting Negro. If there are Jim Crow Negroes among +us we owe them a duty; we ought to seek to improve them, to lift them to +higher levels; but while we are doing this, don't let us forget that +there is a Jim Crow car, and 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 Negroes, 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 system which +seeks to establish a double citizenship in the Republic, based upon race +and color; the one superior to the other, and carrying with it +privileges which are denied to the other.</p> +<p class="pnext">(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 Republic; 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, +nevertheless, 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 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">(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 democracy; and what is the triumph of democracy but the right of the +<em class="italics">people</em> to say who shall rule; and how is the will of the people +expressed? 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 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 +ballot. 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 consent, 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 weaker than he is, and need all the +more the power which comes from the ballot.</p> +<p class="pnext">(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 belongs to us, and that +we must contend for. It is one of our rights that is now being +especially contested in the South. The Negro 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 willing to shut that door of opportunity to the Negro; that +he was not willing to take the position that a man was to be debarred +from public office simply because of the color of his skin. That was the +right position for him to take, and the only one that was consistent +with his oath of office, and his position as President of <em class="italics">all</em> the +people. I hope that he will continue to act upon that principle; 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 object lesson in impressing the truth. I hope that the +President will give us many such object lessons during the next four +years.</p> +<p class="pnext">The right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; the right to +receive equal accommodation on railroads, steamboats, in hotels, +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 anybody,—but among the duties that I have always +emphasized, and still emphasize, is the duty of standing up squarely and +uncompromisingly 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 <em class="italics">rights</em> 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.</p> +<p class="pnext">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 contending; 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 <em class="italics">for</em> us, as well as against +us; and with what we can do for ourselves, we need not despair.</p> +<blockquote><div> +<div class="line-block"> +<div class="line"> +"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;</div> +<div class="line"> +He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes</div> +<div class="line"> +of wrath are stored!</div> +<div class="line"> +He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword;</div> +<div class="line"> +His truth is marching on.</div> +<div class="line"> + </div> +<div class="line"> +He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;</div> +<div class="line"> +He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment seat;</div> +<div class="line"> +O, be swift, my soul, to answer him! be jubilant, my feet!</div> +<div class="line"> +While God is marching on."</div> +</div> +</div></blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">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 highest; let us +have nothing to do with the unfruitful works of darkness; 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 Constitution, and every avenue of opportunity will be +opened to us, 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 inferiority, 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 depend mainly upon what we do <em class="italics">for</em> ourselves, and <em class="italics">with</em> +ourselves. If we are to grow in the elements that make for a strong, +intelligent, virtuous manhood and womanhood, <em class="italics">we</em> 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, <em class="italics">we</em> 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 encroachments of our enemies upon our rights, +<em class="italics">we</em> 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.</p> +<blockquote><div> +<div class="line-block"> +<div class="line"> +"Be strong!</div> +<div class="line"> +We are not here to play, to dream, to drift.</div> +<div class="line"> +We have hard work to do, and loads to lift.</div> +<div class="line"> +Shun not the struggle; face it. Tis God's gift."</div> +</div> +</div></blockquote> +<div class="topic"> +<p class="level-2 pfirst title topic-title topic-title first">Transcriber's Note</p> +<p class="pfirst">This is one group of papers from a series of papers presented +to the American Negro Academy. Founded by Alexander Crummell +in March 1897, with 40 of the leading black scholars and +writers of the day, the Academy's purpose was to promote +literature, science and art, foster higher education and high +culture, and to defend the Negro aginst racist attacks. The +Academy was active until 1924.</p> +<p class="pnext">This project was scanned from a facsimile reprint included in +a collection of all 22 Occasional Papers of the American Negro +Academy.</p> +<p class="pnext">Original spelling varieties have been maintained; tables and +footnotes were renumbered.</p> +</div> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 5em"> +</div> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 35449 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |