American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1867-06-19

net, for their own sakes, as we'll as for
the sake or the country, to let we'll enough
slone.--N Y. Tribune.
Every Man his own Vice-Pres.
ident.
Mr.. Phillips says that he will not be-
lieve that the prejudice against the negro
has disappeared until he sees a negro
nominated for the Vice Presidency or
competing favorably with Major Generals
Now, one reason why there is prejudice
against the negroes is that they have as
yet as race accomplished nothing great
in war, or politics, or art, or literature
If anybody will take the trouble to listen
to an ordinary lecture or speech against
negro equality, he will 6nd that it is this
absence of performance and of what the
French call "preuves," in the great
work of civilization, which forms the
basis of the wole argument. Were there
one or two or three fourishing negro
States built up by negro industry, hon
esty, skill, and valor, the negro color and
conformation would go for nothing. 1t
is the fact that there is not, and has not
been in historic times, any such state
which causes the negro to be reviled,
prosecuted, and enslaved, and which has
created the current belief in their moral
and intellectual inferiority. Whether
this is 4 good foundation for such be-
lief, we cannot discuss here. But we
must remember that all individuals of all
races. are judged by this self same stand
ard We all owe any special respect We
may meet with from our fellow men to
our performances and not to our promise,
or supposed capacity In other words
everybody has prejudice" against the
man who has achieved nothing.
Therefore we say that, now that the
American negroes are free, their true
friend is he who says to them: Work,
work show that you are industrious and
can get rich as white men do; obey the
laws and respect your neighuor's proper.
ty--that is, show that you have the po-
litical sense on which States are formed
and by which they are preserved cult.
vate your minds, show that your intel
lectual inferiority has heretofore been
accidental and not real When you are
rich and shrewd aud educated and nu.
merous you will be powerful, and power
will bring you inevitably political an d
social honor, and nothing else wM or
ought Peoples are great and respect
ed when they have done the things on
which greatness and responsibility are
founded"
Therefore the nomination of a colored
man to the Vice Presidency will be,
whenever it comes, the sign not of the
disappearance of prejudice only, but lso
ol the things which cause the prejudice
| COlored men need not, therefore, trouble
their heads about it any more than about
the Presidency. 1t is not necessary
either to their happiness, comfort, or
respectability. 1t could not make them
happy, comfortable, or respectable unless
they had other things previously; and
when they have the other things the
Vice Presidency is sure to follow, or
even more honorable positions than the
Vice Presidency. When the ablest men
at the bar are negroes we shall, we hope,
have negro Chief Justice of the Su-
preme Court, but not, we trust, one
minute sooner. Negr es are not entitled
to high rewards simply for being black
any m ore THAI they deserve slavery or
i'll treatment for not being white. We
want fair play in this matter for every>
body, but we cannot have fair play if
the CANNON of the negro's injudicious
friends cannot be checked. 1t is no
more hardship to the black to be ex-
cluded from high office because he does
not command the confidence of his fel-
low-citizens than it is to the white man.
If negro has right to be made Vice
President in order to show that people
have no prejudice against him, SO has
everybody else in the community, and
exclusion from high office is slur The
only remedy for this sort of thing is the
admission Of every adult male and female,
not insane, pauper or criminal, to the
Vice Presidency or some other post Of
honor. The thing may be done by a
simple amendment to the Constitution
declaring every citizen of the United
States to be Vice President on taking
the oath of Office Whether we should
be any better off when this was done
would remain to be seen; but we each of
us at least would have the consolation of
knowing that it was no longer in the
power of no ninating conventions to ig.
more our claims. If we stood on Mr..
Phillips's ground we should 70 further,
and insist on having negro Vice Admi-
raj. As long as this Office is mouopolzed
by white man we should, reasoning
from his premises, assert fearlessly that
there can be no security for the colored
race The Nation.