Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1870-04-29
The Fifteenth Amendment.

aonsthe llth oil April preAcneQ helinona
on the Fifteenth Amendment, from which
we take the following extracts; A 49,
In the year 1920 The first negro slaves
were brought TO this country by Dutch
ship p.of-war, and landed in Virginia in
this year, 1870, the last restrictions of the
rights of the negro as citizen are re-
moved, and he stands forth free man
and voter.
In order that we may better realize this
mighty work which God has wrought for
the negro. race, we shall do well 70 noto
the leading parts Of their history. The
poet Virgil tells US of poor fellow, who,
having offended some Of the gods, was
placed in prison underthe earth, and o
mountain piled ontop of him to keep him
do wn. But the negro has had whole
Ilrange of mountains to keep him down,
First, his own ignorance. He had his
l'home IN the darkest corner ot the
earth, and so dense was his stupidity that
he would have starved to. death for want
of knowing how to make his living II
nature had not been prodigal of her gifts
in that sultry land. When the people
were wanted for slayes they were hunted
J in the jungle like wolves, herded in the
, slave-pen like cattle, packed in the slave
ship like herrings in a barrel, and then
sold like donkeys, to cultivate the fields
| of American planters. They could not
| help learning something in their new life,
and lest they should be able to escape from
1 their prison the courts of legislation were
/ set to work piling on laws to make the
mountain higher and heavier, laws which
forbade them the school, the spelling book,
and the Bible, .'..,..4 .,ts XII
Second, There was the mountain of
poverty : mountain exceeding great and
!, heavy, as those who have lain under it
know too we'll 1t is o terrible thing to
have no money, noproperty no credit,
but the poverty of the negro was more,
He did not even own himself; his eyes
I were not his own; his hands with which
he toiled were the property of another
man, and so were his wife and his chill
kdfen. This mountain, too, grew in height
4 with the growing sense OF misery which
Ithe black man endured. as he saw other
households grow rich by his toll, and other
men grow proud because he saved them
from soiling their hands with work. And
it is no wonder that he writhed and
| groane under this mountain, as the fahled
priSoner did. under his mountain, But
there wereno earthquakes in consequence
The third mountain was his color and
the pride of race on. the part OF his op.
pressors. We are all of us to blame,
pile up this mountain T; we possess some
of the Old spirit Of easte1-at least am
ASHAMED to confess I 90, though hope
Cod may use the Fifteenth Amendment
as means Of grace 10 me and my people
'that we may willingly believe God " hath
made of one blood all n9tionS of men fol
to dwell on all the face of the earth" p
Acts xvii, 26. ~ sarH.rE .i. -."r ,fr'.'" %.
ItgpThe fourth mountain was the Demo
! cratic party. The men at the North ant
at the South, who held the slaves enc
Z. governed the. nation, put this doctrine
into their political creeds that slavery wa!
StTight that, was a divine institution
'1'We all know how tenaciously aman hold
to his religion, especially if his religion
: helps his prejudice and his profits, ant
this doctrine being preached from one en(
Of the land to the other, the mountain
. grew exceeaing great and high.
But "God Islh delivered HIM" hatl
tumbled the mountains of him and lifteC
= the poor fellow up, and now he stands up
> right, q man ami sov0ter, citizen of TIL
= greatest nation ofthe world N"This Is tn
! lords doihgsI and it is marvellous in ou
eyes" sa' A '","
We had a strange procession in Chicag
:. tile other tay-a procession the like c
q which ten years ago we hardly, hoped t
! see in orr day, a procession the like c
. which no man in this land will ever Sc
= again, for; thank God, there is no othe
j race of slaves to be set free it was tn
L negro race celebrating the Fifteent
r Amendment. '4-
= lido not know who planned that pre-
y cession, but it was. q work OF genius,
i poem lull of tears and laughter, Of men
" ories Of horror and omens of glory. Man
Il T H.. - r,lt A,, ko.-
y ing and blood tipgling, and wanted [
shout, ana did shout, as that lire of dar
/ faces, men, and women, and childrel
.i with many of the marks Of their poyert,
u as well as oftheir joy, about them, woun
u its quiet way through our streets. II
y had sometimes hoped that his grandson
orperhaps his sons might live to see
but be expected to be looking down frol
l. Heaven when the notes of its mus
should he heard. But there it was, rigl
before his eyes, a nation come to life, an
se what is more, come to libertyl
% Itwasa good day, my brethren, da
= fUr,songs and rejoicing, and ifit was 3 jC
~, ~ to US, what think yod, was. it TO then
.'1 The good time coming and so bitter
l long in coming, had burst upon them, al
= they did welito celebrate with music an
a, banners; to Turn out en- 7ndsse, old al
W W young, rich and poor, in coaches and c
~, horseback, in carts and wagons, with be
10 ringing ard the old flag flying, and y
with strange silence OF voices as if tht
IN were too happy to sing, or as if their ne
~ honors were dream which a shout mig
y, frighten away. '1 l.'r
y That procession was historic and it W
ne prophetic. ...--.- - .......-... ..
+ First in order came platoon OF poll
NJ signify ing laW-goyernment. It W
up risht that law should walkat the head
or their procession, for Law had made slav
n. of them, and government had helped
l." hold them in bondage, Yet these peoI
TIC always respected law: they have n
been rebellious John Brown raised
little insurrection,' but, as q mutiny, it W
a failure. They waited patiently for Ii
ck TO deliver them, and for government
ev adopt them, and it would have been VI
rt if the man who gave the famous DIR
II Scott decision could have had q pla
tic among the policemen. Law once crus
lie ed this people; now it lifts them; tn
or have obeyed law while it was power
er and bonds to obey. How gladly viii tn
to obey it when it commands them to
y prosperous and free.
er The procession was In part compos
of various representatives of the trad
mt Toll has been one of the rights of t
ut black man; and it has been claimed
ne one Of the rights of the white men
drive him to toll -. .ars tr5.l,. u
er tLazinessi is the great crime of slaves
Nv the eyes of their masters; but who Gov
he work with much Yigor, when wo
be brought no wagesl And is laziness
Ike crime only in black men? Are the lo
ers with white faces at the South al
no North to go unbalanced? " .
r But from this time new motivewill ent
he into the life of these sons oitoll, viz: t
en- right to enjoy to the fullest extent {
to fruit of their labor, and, If the half Of Il
s yhuation was made Rich by their labor
us slaYes, what grand results may come frC
II u DIR labor rs f-eemcn?
ch There was one significant emblem
ez that procession, rTlhchis worth passi
uz1 notice; q man with his whole fam
pa crowded into a little wagon, drawn by