Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1865-11-29
VOL. l2.---NO. IL.
WHAT rs A NEGRO

| MS is not hight question, nor one so
| easily answered as may be supposed Words
stand for things, but what the precise thing
may be which this word negro stands for is
not SO very clear yet there is no question
more important to the prosperity and peace
1ui condition of this country than the legal
definition of this word Webster explana-,
ton OF the word shows how loosely it is used
among us, notwithstanding the great i'm
portance of an exact definition He says
negro is "a native or descendant of the
black race of men in Africa But this is
extremely loose and indistinct, since there
are good many black Africans who are not
negroes. and good many descendants of
negroes who are not black. Lord Bacon,
In his natural history, tells us that negroes
are bred in countries that have plenty of
water, as though they were amphibious
anlmals; but other philosophers have failed
20 discover any distinguishing characters
eics = by which the negro may be separated
from the human family. Negrohood is not
determined by our laws, nor by science 1T
Is, IN many cases, gratuitous assumption,
or malignant SANDER. A black man of
supposed African descent may be called a
negro, though born in Connecticut and moth
ing whatever be known of his parentage.
A man may be, and often is called a negro
who can be proved of unquestioned Anglo
Saxon descent, as well as supposed African,
who Is not black, but on the contrary. near
y white. According to all laws of inheri-
tance, man inherits from his father: why
then Is not The son of an Anglo .Sonon faith
er white man by descent, eren though his
mother acds Of supposed 4 tifed,s ancestry.
VI wish that some OF the non franchised
people OF Connecticut, who are not permit
red to go the polls because of their supposed
descent from the black race of Africa, would
assert their right to vote on the ground of
their citizenship, and put the legal author
ltIes of that state to the proof of their SIAN
ders. Let the ques ton, what constitutes
negro be fairly tried and decided by the
learned men of Connecticut. Suppose that
the inspectors of election should decide that
a particular person should not vote because
he was negro. How are they going to
prove him one? If they can disqualify one
man, they can another, unless some legal
test OF the question of negrohood can be es-
taeeeafa taes eeaaffhaed Men M Of Gohlhectic1f l f w6o fave
lately voted against the right of a negro to
the highest privilege of a citizen, what is
meant by the term negro. If a man should
deny that he was negro, how can he be
proved one? If the test be one of descent,
there is no evidence so difficult to verify.
As to physiological tests, naturalists have
not been able to discover any and SO as to
hair or complexion, they are not to be relied
on. All black men are not negroes, nor are
all men who have curly hair. nor are all they
descendants of Africans. There are some
TunisIan Africans now on visit, in an of
ficia! capacity, to President johnson, who
are not negroes nobody would think of call
ing them negroes. Even Deacon Button
would doubtless consent to receive them in
to his family as visitors; and if they wished
to remain in his pleasant village, would ney-
er be guilty of the wickedness of counseling
them to pitch their tents elsewhere, as he
did his neighbor Davenport the other day.
1t is of great importance that this question
of negrohood should be determined at.once,
as the welfare of great number of light
if not absolutely white, Americans
in the reconstructed States of the South de-
pends upon it. 1t is not one of those doubt
ful questions which can be left lying around
loose it must be decided by competent
authority, and at once 'sAll otherpersons"
having been disposed of by the rebel war,
nothing now remains as cause of trouble
among us but the question of what is ne
gro, and what isa negro's rights. Let that
be disposed of, or all mention of the negro
in our States be expunged, and we shall
have nothing moreserious to distract us
than simple questionsof political enconomy,
which never engender bad blood.-N. r.
T,IeDep,ieDf