Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-05-01
NEGRO EQUALITY.


~ influences of direct and cognate pro-
genitors, as well as the bias of race and
climatic changes which have been act
ing for centuries. Afterwards come a
train of widely diverse circumstances
In respect to associations, habits OF
hfe, and education in all of its forms,
spiritual, moral, social and physical, as
well as merely mental. Here we have
elements which, in the combinations of
their various shades and degrees, would
give individual differences as numerous
as the leaves of the forest. But,
setting aside allthese, the one fact that
some men utilize their opportunities of
position and of education, while others
more or less neglect them-the one
fact that men are free agents, would
alone produce mnumerable inequaI-
ties. Adding this to the elements pre-
viously mentioned, it is safe to assert
that no two sons of Adam In all the
past SIX thousand years, have been alb
solutely equal in every respect-perfect
facsimiles. Each successive generation
has rendered such phenomenon less
and less possible. If anywhere, we
might expect the children of Adam and
Eve to have been altogether alike. Yet
the one element of self-will sufficed to
make Abel a Just man and Cain an en-
vious murderer.
WhenThomas Jefferson incorporated
in the Declaration of Independence the
dictum that all men are created equal,
it will be seen that he made very
limited statement, excluding all the in
fiuences after creation which produce
inequalities: Those familiar with his
careful discrimination in the use of
language, viii appreciate why he used
this word In preference to "born" or
any other. Those who often quote
him as declaring more than his words
mean, viii at least agree that he was
making purely political dictum. He
did not mean that all men are equal
morally, mentally, socially or physi-
cally. Neither did he consider it the
function of government to make them
so in these respects. He simply as
serted that men are or should be equals
for political purposes. He was in no
sense announcing an absolute truth,
but laying down the corner
stone of new political system.
Heabolished thepolitical grades that ex-
list in other countries. He did not war
on wealth, nor on social distinctions,
Cor, truth to tell, he was something of
an aristocrat himself. He simply es-
tabhshed the political equality of all
citizens, for political purposes. The
negro was not then a citizen, but has
since been made so, and IS entitled to
political equality with all its legitimate
consequences. The day is coming all
too fast, when a revulsion of feeling in
the North will evoke among those
classes that manifest the spirit of the
commune, demand for negro disfran-
chisement. In that day the negro will
find the Democracy his only true
friend, battling for his rights as it has
battled for other classes against whom
the shafts of fanaticism have been sue
eessiyely leveled-
In the meantime, the obstreperous
demands of the negroes for social
equality is mischievously absurd-mis-
chievous to themselves only, and absurd
to the rest of the world. Social dis
tinctiOns Will exist as long as society
itself exists. Government can no more
control the cliques and classes insti-
tuted by society than those instituted
by religion. They are of subtle origin,
based on a thousand niceties, and ut
terly beyond the grasp of politics.
Call it prejudice, but the same exists
among the whites in regard to each
other. Wealth must offer advantages,
else no man would be industrious or
saving. Intellectmust have privileges,
oIeo oil ,roo,1;-o - ,o1e o,,14rr, ,,-,,,IJ
be gone. Cleanliness and tidiness must
have their reward, or We become ma
ton of slovens. So of every other dis
tinction on which society is ever re-
subdividing itself. Every ole has seen
white wealth sneer down on white in
tellect. and both close the social doors
rigidly against humble honest worth.
Yet they are all political equals.
Parents, white or black, possess the
unquestionable right of looking after
the associations of their children in
school or out. In the North, where
public schools have long existed, social
distinctions have crept in among the
whites in spite Of all legislation. Fine
clothes and aristocratic notions ostra-
CHE poor white children from the cost
lest public schools in Northern cities.
The sneers, and jeers, and nicknames,
that greet the ragged child work his
exclusion quite as effectively as direct
legislation rigidly enforced. In self
respect he must seek other schools filed
with children of like condition, or he is
debarred all opportunities for educa-
ton. So, here, when we furnish sepa-
rate schools for negroes, the State or
county has done even more than its duty
from tax-paying standpoint, and the
negroes have no room for reasonable
complaint.
If the blacks would prove their equal
ity, they must depend as little on gov
eminent as the whites. As a race, or
on account of color, the State can take
no more care of them than Of others;
such distinction is forbidden by the
organic law. IL some legislation seems