Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1867-05-09
The Petersburg Platform.


AT meeting Of the citizens of Peters
burg, without distinction Of race or col
Or" the following platform was adop-
ted
81. That we agree to accept and perform in
good faith the terms and conditions prescribed
by the Congress of the United States as the
terms and conditions upon which Congress has
agreed to restore Virginia to her place in the
Union.
s'2. That we recognize and accept as an es-
sential part of said terms and conditions the
proposition that the political power of the
State, which has heretofore been welded by
white men alone, shall henceforth be possess
ed and exercised by white and black men alike.
$50. That we will therefore insist that a new
Constitution shall be framed for Virginia,
which shall provide that all men, white or black,
without reference to previous condition Of SER
vitude, shall be perfectly equal before the laws,
both in respect to political privileges and pow
e. and Of civil rights and that all laws Gre
ating distinctions or differences of any sort be-
tween persons of different races shall be un-
constitutional, null and void.
II. That we viii support no candidate for
the Convention who will not pledge himself to
carry out in good faith the foregoing PROPOSE
tons and to secure their adoption as part of
the fundamental law Of Virginia we will CO.
operate cordially with all good men, white or
black, who honestly desire the same result.
's5. We invite the colored men Of Peters
burg, freedmen and the born free alike, to- DIN
us, to attend our political meetings, to partici-
pate in our deliberations and to express freely
their opinions and wishes and we assure
them that they shall receive all the considera-
'tion and respect to which they are entitled, as
equal participants with us in political power
and legal rights"
The Richmond Wing endorses this pro-
munciamento, and says that it sis one on
which all good citizens of every class, col
or and past political affiliations can unite
and should unite to save Virginia /; to re-
store her to the Union, and to secure her
release from those membranes that re-
strain her development and reterd her pros
perity.' Says the Wing, 1T has greatly
surprised us to find Our contemporaries SO
generally backward in taking position on
it," rel.aeEa1 s3a
1t does not require much sagacity to per-
ceive that the great body of the freedmen
will vote with the extreme radicals at the
approaching elections !; and if every rebel
should eat the "neck of dirt" to which he
is entitled. at one meal, and seek afiliation
with the wards Of the nation" we cam
not see that any good can be accomplished.
We hold that the colored people must learn
to Know their own interests; they must act
independently they must vote independ-
entity. Flushed with their acquired
political rights, this they will not do. They
will "praise the bridge that brought them
over safely )" they will be governed by
the advice Of the radicals, with whom we
can have no fellowship. When they shall
have acquired some experience upon the
subject; when they shall reflect soberly
upon the relation existing between them
and the so-called rebels, from whom they
derive their subsistence, we may hope fo1
more rational action on their part.