Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1868-10-07

black men fought and voted IN the herOl
days of this Republic. Black men fel
at the battle of Bunker Hill and lie bur
led beneath the shadow of the monu
ment. All through the Revolutionary
war, they marched barefooted with the
whites, they starved with the whites
they mingled in the thick of the fray with
the whites, they endured their share Of
the hardships, privations. and losses Of
war with the whites. At Red Bank,
forgot under what'oflcer, 400 black men
routed and defeated l 400 Hessians
They had the right in nearly all the Col
onies to vote, too, and they habitually ex-
ercised it, Here the speaker read the
following from an article bearing on the
subject, published in the Rocky Noun
tain Nea0s, of June 10, 1868, to-wit:
In the Congress of the old Confederation,
July 25, 1878, the terms of the fourth article as
proposed, were ''I'he free inhabitants of each OF
these States (paupers, yagabonds, and fugtives
from justice excepted) shall be entitled to all
privileges and immuntie of free citizens in
the several States South Carolina moved
to insert before the world 'iinhabitants," the
word "white." Eleven States voting, two
States for it, one was divided, and eight were
against it. The article stood unchanged, and
from its terms, both of inclusion, and exclusion,
the inference is unavoidable, that at the adop-
ton OF the Constitution, free colored persons
were, by reason of their citizenship in certain
States, entitled to the privileges and immuni-
ties of citizenship of the United States
The founders of the government did not make
citzt ship dependent on color or race, and
every wel-informed person knows it. Black
men fought side by side with white in the
Revolutionary war, and in the war of 1912 :;
and when the Constitution was adopted, in on
ly one State Constitution-that of South Caro-
lina-was the right of suffrage limited by ex-
press terms to the white race 1t is of clear
record that in ten of the original thirteen
States, colored men hal the right of suffrage
by law, and that in eight or nine of them they
habitualiy exercised it. -F ~.
The statutes under the old Colonial Charter
of Connecticut permitted colored men to vote
until 1914. The constitution of 1918 denied
them the right. Tennessee, the daughter of
. \ orth Carolina, formed a constitution over
which Andrew Jackson presided, under which
tree ncnoes voted in that State until 1896.
Cave Johnson used often'to tell of the one hun
dred and forty-four negroes who worked in his
iron works, voting for him for Congress. There.
was a fierce struggle in the Tennessee Conven-
ton of 1884 over the proposition to disfranchise
the negroes, and it was carried by SO to 23
North Carolina excluded them in l945 Penn
sylvania in 1888, Maryland in 1833 New York
added property qualification in 1921. 3sa -ry
Ofthe first twelve acts for the regulation
and government of Territories, two under the
old Confederation and ten under the present
national Constitution, not one contained any
provision to the pref udice CT colored voters
t. AL Inn A 4J,r1 j
ing for the government of Missouri Territory,
that the slave arstocracy triumphed, and the
word 'swhite," voted down in l778 and always
thereafter, was for the first time inserted in a
clause gulating suffrage in the Fundamental
law of a Territory. - --a
He then went on: I know this to be
true from authorities | have myself con-
suited Turning to Mr.. A. H. Rich
ardson, who was on the platform.) Here
is man who in his younger days las
often walked to the polls in Tennessee,
arm in arm with shareholders, and de-
posted his ballot. 1t was almost within
this generation that the privilege or right
was generally taken from US. Now of
the colored men in Colorado, two-thirds,
[ am proud to say, have served in the
army of the United States, have fought
for themselves and for the Government.
Colored fellow-citizens, [ beg you to re-
member to whom you owe your freedom
and your citizenship. 1t is to the Re
publican party. The Democratic party
opposed your emancipation, and your ad-
mission to eqnal rights. You are worthy
of these privileges because you assisted
in the overthrow of the rebellion. You
never fought against your country's flag
unless forced to; you fought for that flag,
you helped the cause as best you might,
you gave valuable information to our
Generals, you guided our bare-footed,
starved, prisoners through unknown and
secret paths, back to home and kindred.
[ ask you, white fellow citizens, in view
of the black mans fidelity his Kindness
of heart, in view of the fact that his sym
pathies were all for the Union, can you
deny him participation in the blessings
we by common right from our Creator
enjoy, and which he helped preserve
Certainly not. You are called upon tc
do your duty in this crisis. True, We
have no voice in the Presidential elec
ton. But we have our influence In the
campaign, campaign fraught with con-
sequences as important as any that has
ever occurred in the world. We have
fought through long and bloody war
but no war is finished till the last battle
is won. We are now in the midst of tha
battle. Onits issue depend the future
welfare and prosperity, perhaps the very
existence of the Republic. Colored ane
white men who have worn the Unitec
States blue; can you vote against the prin
ciples for which you fought Can yot
vote against those who fell by your side
whose mortal remains are concealed iron
our eyes by the portals of the toni
through which they have. passed, bu
whose spirits are now looking down from
Heaven with painful anxiety to see ifyo'
will throw away, will give back to tn
enemy that which you and they so dear
won. Do not do it. If Seymour an
Blair are elected, the country will b
plunged into another war. [ ask you
loyal Democrats, what are you doing II
the Copperhead ranks? Are they tn
men who sustained you in the field
Did they not rather abuse you in Ian
guage too mean for utterance: and SUI