The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1865-03-31

FRIDAY, MARCH 81.


THE BLACK LAWS.
Illinois has repealed her black laws,
and indeed she could hardly help wiping
the stain from her face when her neigh
Dor Missouri Was lifting her whole body
out Of tho elough. The black laws OF
Illinois, although Illinois is free State,
were as much part Of the code Of slavery
as any slave law OF Arkansas or Missis-
sippi; for they were the work Of what
was called the Democratic party, and that
party was the minister Of slavery. In IL
linois, for instance, al colored persons
were presumed to be slaves unless they
could prove themselves to be free; in
other words. were held to be guilty until
they proved their innocence-thus d.
rectly reversing the first human max
i'm OF the common law. By another act,
if any negro or mulatto came into the
State and staid ten days, he was to be
fined fifty dollars, and sold indefinitely to
pay the fine.
We read such things incredulously in
the light of to-day. The wicked folly of
selecting for outrage special class of the
the most innocent and defenseless, is so
like caprice of Ashantee society, or a
measure of Patagonian craftsmanship.
that it is quite impossible to believe that
it was tolerated in the great, prosperous,
and enlightened State of Illinois. II ex-
plains the curiously inhuman and heart
less tone of Mr.. Douglas in speaking Of
the colored race. He lived 10 the midst
of this senseless and fierce prejudice, and
he rose by pandsring to it.
The black laws of Illinois were another
proof Of the fearful decentralization which
slavery had wrought in this country, and
upon which it counted for easy success
in its rebellion. When slavery saw that
Pierce and Buchanan, two successive
Presidents, were it's most sbject tools
when it saw every Northern city ready to
take by the throat any man who 6ercel,
denounced it; when in Boston, ricl
merchant and noted citizen named Fay
with the Mayor of the city. turning
meeting for condem nation Of slavery int
the street; when it read such laws a
these of Illinois; when it saw the city o
New York criugng beneath its frowr
fawning upon its contemptuous smile
how could it help believing that Franklin
Pierce wrote the truth to Jefferson Davis
when he said that the blood would flow
this side of Mason and Dixon's line rattle
than the other. aud suppose, with Rober
Toombs, that any man could drink all tn
blood that would be shed in the war
Now that Illinois has repealed her blacl
laws, is it too. much to hope that New
York will do the same thing? The Con
stitution of the State allows colored citi
zens to vote, provided that they have live,
twice as long in the State and county
and paid twice as much tax as any othe
voters. The other voters may be ignor
ant and brutal sots, who are nuisance
and pests in any country, and these ma
be intelligent, industrious, thrifty, valua
BILE citizens; but the Constitution of Nev
York, enslaved By the came mean and in
human prejudice which dictated the b,ac
laws Of Illinois, declares that ignoranc
and brutality are politically preferable t
intelligence and thrift.
If intelligence is to be the condition c
active citizenship. it is test which every
body can understand, and which mos
people will approve. But to make it de
pendent upon complexion is as wise as t
rest it upon the color of the hair or tn
breadth of the shoulders. The monstrou
subsection of this country to the preju
dice against color is not, as many who ar
underits influence suppose, "a natural in
stinct;" it is only the natural result of
system which arbitrarily and forcib
makes color the sign Of hopeless servitudt
If red haired men or men over six feet i
height were enslaved and imbruted 70
centuries, there would be exactly the sam
"natural aversion" to them which
gravely alleged BY many otherwise sensi
BILE people against the colored.
Missouri has emancipated herself; Iii
nois has thrown off her black laws. Sup
pose that sensible men and women no,
emaucipate Themselves from the black la,
of most cruel and senseless prejudice
-[Harper's Weekly.