Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-07-12
The Suffrage Question.

44c 0ulAdkS Nsu6hb4Ous
['The following speech was deliverd
in the Ohio Senate, March 5, 1867, by
Hon. L. D. GriswoId, of Lorain county,
pending the passage Of the resolution
to submit the manhood suffrage amend
ment to vote of the 8eople. It is elo-
quent and forcisIe, and has a direct
bearing upon the present issue.l
Mr.. PREs9DENr:-I can hardly hope
that any remarks / may be able to
make apon the important question be-
fore the Senate viii infiuance any SEN
atDr in casting his vote.
And yet I feel it a duty To myself as
well as to my constituents to give my
reasons for supporting the pending res
OlutiOu. I therefore ask yonr indulgence
while I urge the right of cur disfran-
chised colOred citizens to an equal parti-
cipatiOn in the elective franchise.
And first I maintain that it is inst
1t is just, first, because they are taxed
equally with ourselves to sustain the
Government.
1t was a principle for sghRh our faith
ers fought in the war Of 6Ae Revolution
that there should be no taxation with
out representation, and it was one of the
reasons urged in the declaration of In
dependence fer taking up arms against
the mother country, that the King of
Great Britain taxed his subjects with
out their consent.
Any discrimination founded upon race
or color is unnatural and unjust.
IF any man could determine for HIM
self of what race he should be born, or
the color of his skin, it might be right
and just to infiict certain penalties or
disabilities upon those who had the bad
fr1erF F1n 20, HaraE III
matter entirely beyond the control of
the black man, / maintain that it is un-
just to hold him responsi ble.
1t may be urged that the UolOred peO-
pie of the State are not well educated
or as intelligent as the white people
This is doubtless true in part, and yet
there are very many of them who are
more Intelligent and better educated
than thousands of white men, who en-
joy the ele5tive franchise.
What opportunity have they enjoyed
to obtain an eClucatfon9 Have thew
been permitted to enjoy the benefits Of
our public schools2 In some sections
Of the State they have to a limited ex-
tent, bat not generally throughout the
State. How many Of our colleges and
Other institutions of learning higher
than the common school, have they
been permitted to enter, on terms Of
equality with the whites I know of
bus one, though there may be more, and
yet 1t affords me pleasure to say that no
class Of our people is making such rap
Id progress in obtaining an education as
our cOlOred people,
1 have always Thought that the hest
way to elevate men, and create in them
feeling of self-respeCt, is TO treat them
as duman beings, and as such, to confer
upon them equal rights. You cannot
expect men TO rise socially, or morally,
while you keep your foot upon their
necls, I think it was Daniel Webster
who declared himself a leveller, but he
was iA favor 'Of levelling upwards"
The immortal author of the Declara-
ton OF American Independence an f
nOunced this glorious principle. UAu
governments derive their Just powers
from the consent Of the governed" and
yet there are in Ohio 6e, coo colOred citi-
zens, with taxable 5efopety amounting
to Sl15, ,O00, ,e00, Yf1hO have no voice in the
State or n National Governments. There
are ia Ohio as shown by the enumera-
JEom taken IN September 1865, of color
ed children of the legal age, emitting
them to the benefits of our common
schools, q ,706. OF this number, 8,I62
are enrolled in cOlOred schools. i think
it a safe calculation that at least 5000
more are admitted to the schools Of white
children and youth, making over 1900 I
who are obtaining at least the elements /
Of an education. 1t is doabtfAl wheth- /
er greater proportion Of our white
youth are availing themselves of the /
benefits Of our reXcellent common school |
system.
But, Mr.. President, / propose to base
my argument principally upon the uni 4
form good conduct Of the cOlOred peo-
pie, whenever our country has been
involved in either foreign or do nestle /
war.
What, then, has been their conduct in
the times "that tried mems sOuls9t' III
they have allied themselves with the en-
emles Of our country; if they have at /
such times been turbulent if they have !
formed combinations either secret or
open to resist and embarrass the gov
ernment, and give aid aud comfort to
its enemies, we may well hesitate in
eOnferring upon them the f1lll rights of
American citizens.
But I assert, without fear Of success
'ul contradiction, chat in all such times
If trial they have been true to the gov
5rnment, and in this respect they con-
Fast very faVOrably with a large class
IF our white fellow citizens. I shall
lOw proceed to prove my assertion
)y the presentation of a few historical |
acts which may not be familiar to all !
he members Of this Senate. The first /
martyr to American liberty was Crispus ]
a cOlOred man who was shot I
iOwn in the streets.of Boston, by British I
iOldlers, on the 9TH of March, 177O Three 1
white men were killed at the second I
he Of the Boston massacre. The fifth &
If March was celebrated annually. un- 4
il superseded by the anniversary of the !
Declaration of Independence. in IVA I
IOhn Hancock invoked the injured {
h0des of Maverick, Gray, Caldwell {
md Attucks. In l775, Judge Dawes /
hus alludes to that important event I i
The prOvOeatiOn of that night, must be
among the master springs 1
which gave the first motion to a vast \
noble and comprehensive S
ystem of national Independence. H. S
And when on the 5th of March, l776, s
Washington repaired to the intrench- !
nents, he said; Remember it is tho {
th of March, and avenge the death of &
'Our brethren Many colOrod soldiers +
in the battle Of Bunker I
III. Among them was one named Z
salem, who when the British Major {
Pitcairn mounted the works and cried
Zultingly; "The day Is ours" "shot g
linn through, and he fell" We have &
he authority Of the late Gov. Eustis, S
f Massachusetts, for saying, that free 9
OlOred men entered the ranks with the O
whites and that the time oi those who @
we're slaves was purchased OF their mas
ars and they were induced 10 enter the j
rmy by the promise of freedom at the &
lose Of the war. There was a compa- O
" Of colored soldiers, called the Bucks G
{ America, which was presented by q
ohm Hancock, with a banner bearing G