Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1876-04-11

Scdthtngy denounced Gy COtoTed Men-
They are Tired Of Party Yoke, and Hal
Combine to Reconcile the Sections and
Mantat7 Local Self Government.
At largely attended meeting of the coll
ored citizens of the different States, held at
the City of Washington on February %,
1876, the following was unanimously adopted,
and or motion, it was ordered that the docu-
meut be printed in circular form for distribu>
tion throughout the United States:
| We, colored men, representing nearly all
| the States and Territories of the United States,
believing with the fathers, that the happiness
of the people is the sole end of government.
and taking into consideration the unhappy
condition now existing, growing out of the
prostration of business, the decrease of COM
merco and the heavy taxes turced from an i'm
poyerished people to carry out the extrav-
agancies of au ADMINISTRATION become infatu>
ated by sordid ambition, aud taking into con-
sideration the duplicity, want of faith, cor>
ruption, vacilatirg policy and selfish motives
of the Republican party, to which we have
been allied since we became cit zens. aud for
which we have sacrificed so much, do hereby
denounce 1t as being the primary cause of all
the wrongs committed against us, the im-
Peader of the progress and prosperity of the
country, because 1t has never ceased to use us
as cover for its base designs, usurpations and
encroachments upon the Liberties of the peo.
pie of the South, aud, therefore, we sever all
connection with that infamous and tyran>
nicdUy admiListrated organization for the fol-
lowing reasons:
From its palpable violation of the prin>
ciples upon which it is founded; for its
failure to fulfill its solemn promises made in
National and State platforms for the polit>
ical serfdQm in which it has kept our South
ern brethren, whose impolitic banding to-
gethcr has perpetuated its supremacy to the
detriment Of the material prosperity and tran
guilty of the States in which they live for
establishing bank, ostensibly for the benefit
OF the freedmen, but actually for the pecuu>
iary advancement Of knavish baukrupts favor
lies of the Administration, and appointing
S1----vfv Iias;-7I iItt
acters to control it, who have not only mis-
managed, but stolen millions of our hard earn
ings, thereby reducing US to ahject want, and
for persisteutly refusing to pass any legisla-
tive measure for the relief of the ignorant.
but confding men and woman who deposited
| their all in that pseudo phHantLropic, but
ruuous receptacle, only because of its Rcpub-
lican character; for ignoring intelligent COL
ored men of uudoubted integrity in the dis
| tributlon of patronage, and appointing either
! ignorant blacks who were used as administra
tiOn tools, or infamous whites who depleted
| the treasures, aud prostituied the offices for
| political preference, even in States where the
overwhelming numerical strength of the
| blacks made Republican ascendency possible:
for banding ignorant coOred men against
| their white follow citizens, in order that
| greedy and INSCRIPTIONS cOrmorauts from the
| North may ride into Office and then leave
| them, after amasing fortunes aud sttainiug
| honor aud fame, the enemies of those who
would have otherwise befriended and pro-
tected thom; for cOnniving with white men
inimcal to our best interests and relcntlessly
bent on engcnderiug class hatred for party
ends, whose plunderiug and coercive lcgisla>
| tive measures Unsuitable thirst for gain have
made of the fair field of the South bowling
| wilderness, and palsied the very energies of
the people; for ravaging treasures, running
whole communities by oppressive taxation, in
cIeusing the State debts to fabulous amounts,
and goadng the people to desperation for
usurping power not delegated to the General
| Government for throttliDg State LegisIa>
lures and expelliDg the peoples representa-
tives from State capitals by force Of arms,
/ thereby substituting military de$potiSm for
, civil authority; for disgracing the American
name and character abroad by the appoint>
ment of ynnlbItrS, stock joJJcrs, suindLers,
| and men whose villainous characters were
! known to the appointing power as ambassa>
| dors, consuis, aud diplomatic agents for spec
ulatng with the fiuaEces of the country; for
aiding and abetting conspirators to defrcud
the public Treasury; for unprecedented ex-
travagance in the administration of the Gov
| ernment; for sustaining the Executive in the
| practice of Depotism and in the appointment
| of persons to Office to whom he was indebted
for favors received, aud many unconstitutional
! measures, such as the appointment of a mill
| tary satrap to negotiate a treaty without being
confirmed By the Senate for using the pub
lie revenues to carry elections for creating
and maintaining Board of Public Works,
Board of Audit and Board of Commissioners,
who have, in violation of Law, prostituted the
credit of the United States, piled up an euor-
nous debt on the people of the District of
Columbia, subsidized presses and paid law
yers for personal defence with public money,
corrupted corrupt contractors for personal
gain. fraudulently issued bonds and certif>
icates. and left the city bankrupt with unfn>
| ished streets and sewers for packing the Su-
| preme Court of the United States in order TO
obtain decision favorable to the policy of the
Administration, and tampering with the ju~
dietary of States to the detriment the rights
and liberties of the people; for prostitutiug
the civil service for the promotion of favor
ties, brothers>in-law and other relatives to
high Offices of trust and emOlument; for sp-
pointing incompetent and Infamous kuaves to
judicial positions in Southern States, notw;th-
standing the solemn protests of the most re-.
spectacle and enlghted citizens of said Sec
tiOn; for cheating labor in defiance of the
eight>hour law, which guaranteed two dollars
per diem, to all laborers en- Government work