American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1868-09-19
NEGh SUFFRAGE.
VIEWS otirm NIB. WORKERS..

The following is an extract of a
speech deliveltd by Hon. Daniel w.
VOORHEES,, at 55erre Hante, Ind, on
the Sth ult: .ole
While Radicalsm is defeated in its
attempts so often made, to force he.
gro suffrage on the people Of the
North. Of their own homes, yet it
compels the Northern man to swear
that he will support it forever, and
never attempt to abolish it, before
he can live as a citizen in any one Of
the reconstructed States. Last year
the Radical leaders made negro Suf
trage an issue IN Ohio, and were
beaten 80, 600; yet citizen Of Ohio
cannot be citizcn Of Alabama I'M.
less lie take an oath to change his
principles. Again, the attempt was
made to establish negro suffrage last
fail in Kansas. 1t was defeated by
eight thousand. Yet a citizen Of
Kansas cannot move into the neigh
boring State Of Arkansas, and carry
with him the right to vote or hold
Office, unless, in the most solemn
manner, he repudates the public
viii Of his present home. But a few
months ago Michigan drove negro
suffrage from her borders by forty
thousand majority yet, in order to
be clothed with citizenship in ten
other States, her people are called
upon to reverse this powerful record.
Thus barrier is raised against emf
grafton from the North to the fertile
fields of the South. The doors are
open only to slch as are willing to
affiliate with the negro, and to swear
that they will never attempt to dis
turb his absolute equality with the
white race. Are You who are living
in the descending waters of the
Mississippi Nalley-those channels
which nature made for your commu,
nication, trade, md social intercourse
with the South-are you willing to be
halted on the borders Of Tennessee,
Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama or
Louisiana by negro sentinel and
made to swear allegiance to the
policy Of negro suffrage? You would
repudiatc it by hundred thousand
majority in Indiana; yet in one-third
Of the boundaries of the Republic no
one of you cambe citizen who does
not embrace it, and seal his degrade.
ton by an oath-an oath reaching TO
all the future, anJ excluding in adj
vance every reason which might
dictate change hereafter. The
whole South is thuS to be AfricaniZed,
her civilization destroyed, her fields
of cotton, sugarricp, corn and tobacco
made barren and unproductive; her
capacity to assist you in paying the
taxes OF the country stricken down,
and all her fruitful lands and mighty
rivers denied you aud your pOsterity.
am no foe to the black man. !
would make the government a bless
ing, and not a curse to him. In the !
work of his own hands he should eat !
his bread, and | would protect HIM
in the fruits OF his industry. Nor
would | tax him, save for the cduca-
ton Of his children. But from all
participation in the affairs Of the
| would exclude him in
nil the States, as You do here in In-
diana. The examples of the AL |
mighty, the teachings of all history,
and the deep philosophy of human
nature, all denounce the commingling |
Of separate and distinct races. 1t is
m unimaginabIe curse to both.
Prosperity never blessed a land that |
attempted it. Every age and every |
cline in the annals of the human race |
proclaim this great fact. | am, there
fore, for the supremacy Of the white
race, and the rule and Government |
IF the white man. He alone, of all ,
he tribes and kindreds that have
Deopled the earth since the stars first
leId high jubileGin the sky together,
las shown himself capable of self
government. Isto his hands, and
ais alone, would'I commit the mighty
mission and theslofty destiny of my
And sooner or later 10 this
doctrine will we all come, with one
mind and with one heart, regardless
# party ties or party names. Then
will our country rise from her dis
raction and calamitieS, and present
Ter bright forehead without spot or
wrinkle to the gaze of the nations.