The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1858-10-13
Equal Liberty, the Birthrisht
of all Men

DR.. FRANKLIN, in a document address
sed, we believe, to the fist Congress of
the United States, declared his firm belief
in the sentiment that equal Liberty was
the Birthright of all Men," Of course
Dir. Franklin knew what he believed, as
q member of the Convention which issued
the Declaration Of Independence, and he
knew that his sentiments were shared by
all the great array of patriots, from North
and South.
The men of those days had the courage
to act out their principles, and when they
came to make Constitutions for the States,
they provided for equal Suffrage; and it
is said to be fact that in the Constitu-
tons of all the original thirteen States,
the word "wAite" docs not occur as a
qualification for voting. Property quail
fcations were made in some of the States,
but color was not made test.
The black men Of the revolutionary
days were called upon to fight for their
country, and ans gered nobly to the call;
SO did they in the war of 1912.
The first man slain in that affray at
Boston between the people and the Brit
ISL troops, preliminary to the war, was
colored man. History says:
"The guard were called, and in march
ing to the Custom House, they encoun-
tered band of populace, led by naulat-
to named Attucke, who brandjshed their
clubs, and pelted them with snow-balls.
The maledictions, the imprecations, the
eXecratioDs of the multitude, were horri-
bic. In the midst Of torrent Of invec-
tive from every quarter, the military were
challenged to fire. The populace adran-
ced to the points Of their bayonets, The
soldiers appeared like statues; the cries,
the howlngs, the menaces, the violent din
Of bells still sounding the alarm, increased
the confusion and the horror Of these
moments; at length the mulatto and
twelve Of his companions, pressing for
ward, enyironed the soldiers, and striking
their muskets with Their clubs, cried to
the multitude, be not afraid, children of
men, before the laws Of the common
wealth they dare not fire; why do you
hesitate, why do you not kill them, why
not crush them at onceY' The mulatto
lifted his arm against Capt Prescott, and
having turned one Of the muskets, he
seized the bayonet with his left hand, as
if he intended to execute his threat. At
this moment confused cries were heard.
'IHe a0retches dare not fire. Firing
succeeds. Attucks IS slain. The other
discharges follow. Three were killed,
five severely wounded, and several slight
w."
EDWARD EVERETT said, in his recent
address at the Inauguration of the War
rem Statue:
cit is the monument Of the day, of
the event, of the battle of Bunker Hill;
of all the brave men who shared its perils
alike Prescott, and Putnam, and War
ren-the chiefs of the day, and the col
ored man Salem, who is reported to have
shot the gallant Pitcairn as he mounted
the parapet. Cold as the clods on which
it rests; still as the silent heaven to which
it scars; it is yet vocal, eloquent, in their
undivided praise"
Colored battalons were raised in near
ly all tle States, and fought bravely
through the war. Said Senator Wilson
of Mass. =" Whenever the country has
required their blood in the days Of trial
and conflict, they have given it freely,
aud we have accepted it; but in times Of
peace, when their blood is not needed, we
shun and trample them under foot. [
have no part in this great wrong to
race. Wherever, and whenever we have
the power to do it, | would give to all
men, of every Cline and race, of every
faith and creed, freedom and equality be-
fore the law. My voice and my vote shall
ever be given for the equality Of all the
children of men before the laws of the
wealth of Massachusetts and the United
States"
The black men fought in the ships in
those days, and Captain Shaler of the
stout old brig General Tompkins, thus
p
"The name of one of my poor fellows
who was killed ought to be registered in
the books of fame, and remembered with
reverence as long as bravery is considered
virtue. He was a black man by the
name of John johnson. A twenty-four
pound shot struck him in the hip and took
away all the lower part Of his body. In
this state the poor brave fellow lay on the
deck, and several times exclaimed to his
shipmates, fire array nay 6oys-iao haul
a color doUnP
ssThe other was also black man by
the name of John Davis, and was struck
in much the same way. He fell near me,
and several times requested to be thrown
| overheard, saying, re acGs only az ne
aroy of the others While America has
/ such tars, she hiss little to fear from the
tyrants of Europe"
In the war Of 1912, Gen. Jackson call
ed upon thu colored men for aid, in the
following language;