The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1876-10-05
TEN YEARS AGO.
WHAT SITTING BULL MORTON
THEN THOUGHT OF THE
NEGRO.
(Exhacts from the Speech of Hon. o.
p. Morton, at Richmond, Indiana,
Sept. 2oth, 1867
The COlOred Man Unfit to Vote.

ID their CondltlonI PernapS not one IN
five hundred-I might say one in thou.
sand-can read, and perhaps not one in
five hundred is worth So in property OF
any kind. Can you conceive
that body of men, white or black, who
have been in this condition, and their
ancestors before them, are qualified to be
Immediately lifted from their present
state into the full exercise of political
power, not only to govern themselves
and their neighbors, but to take part in
the government of the United Statesp-
Can they be regarded as intelligent and
and intelligent VotersP The mere state
Of facts furnishes the answer to the ques-
ton. y To say that such mem
and it is no fault of theirs; it is a simple
misfortune and crime of this nation
to say that such men, just emerged from
slavery, are qualified for the exercise of
political power, is to make the strongest
pro-slavery argument l ever heard. 1t
Is to pay the highest compliment to the
institution Of slavery.
THE RIGHT TO VOTE INVOLVES THE RIGHT TO
HOLD OFFICE,
The right to vote carries with it the
right to hold Office. You cannot say the
negro has natural right to vote, hut
that he must vote only for white men for
Office. The right to vote carries with it
the right to be voted for. When that
right is conferred, you can make no dis
elimination, no distinction against the
right to hold office; and the right to vote
in State carries with it the right to vote
for President and members of Congress
and for all Federal officers The right of
suffrage being conferred in South Caro-
lima for State purpoes, under our Con.
stitution, as l have before pointed out,
carries with it the nght to vote for Pres
ident and Vice President and members
OfCongress.
CoLoRED STATE governments THE RESULT.
Ifyou enfranciise all the negroes in
these States, youwill have at least twen-
ty negro votes Il one white vote, and in
the work of reonstructing the States of
South Carolint, Alabama and Florida,
you will havea larger proportion-per-
haps thirty cAored votes to one white.
Now, ask y,u, what is to be the effect
of that2 Thu first effect will be, you will
have coloredState governments Under
such a condition of things the negro
would no more vote for white man than
you up here would vote for black man.
They would no more elect white man
than youWould elect black man. HUI
man nature is the same, whether in a
white Or colored skin. There could be
nothing that would confer more pleasure
upon a man of that race of course, than
the elevation to political power of a man
of his own race and color. Having Sc
cured power, they would retort upon us
that which we have SO steadily praclised
upon them. If you give them the vote
they will elect men of their own color,
and we would have no right to blame
them. We would rather think badly of
them if they did not. l would ask you
if the negroes of Hayti, or any other
place where they are in majority, have
ever elected white man to Officer Un-
der Mr.. Summers plan you will give them
an overwhelming majority in every one
of these States, and you will give them
the political power of the South.
That they will exercise this power by
electing men of their own color is abso-
lutely certain. Believing that human ma
ture is the same under different COM
plexions that the negroes are not differ
emily constituted from ourselves, and
, that they have like passions with us, we
cannot doubt how this power would be
exercised. Some will say that it is all
right; if they can find coIored men quail
fed, all right. There are enough colored
men of education in the North to 90 to
the South and fill every Office there,
and | have no doubt they stand ready
to do it. Here we deny to them almost
every right except that of mere personal
liberty; and it is so in illinois and many
other Northern States; and when you
present to them the prospect of holding
the highest offices in the gift of the peo-
pie of the Southern States, rest assured
they will embrace it. They will have
Colored Governors and colorod members
of Congress, and Senators, and judges of
the Supreme Court, &c. Very we'll, and
suppose they do send colored Senators
and Representatives to Congress, have
no doubt you will find men in the North
who will be willing to sit beside them,
and will not think themselves degraded
by 80 doing. l have nothing to say to
this. l am simply discussing the polit-
ical effect of it. In every State where
there is a Colored State government, a
negro for Governor, and negro for Su-
preme Judge, white emigration will cease
and there will be no more white emigra-
ton to any such State. You cannot find
the most ardent anti-slavery man in
this county who will go and locate in
a State that has colored State govern.
ment. You " i'll absol ltely and effectu-
ally shut off at once all emigration from
the Northern States, and from Europe,
too, whenever that event shall happen.
Thus they will remain permanently col
ored States in the South. The white
men who are now there would remove
from them, they would not remain under
such dominion.
EFFECT OF THEIR NFRANCHlsEMENT-AN NE.
GRO BALANCE OF POWER.
Very we'll, say some; this is Ill very
good, if we can get the negroes to go there
But let me say that the Colored States
would be balance of power in this
country. ask, is it desirable TO have a
colOred State government say it is
not; it is not for many reasons. One
reason is that such States would perpetu-
ally constitute balance of power. They
would be held bound by that stringent
tie that ever hold men together-the tie
of color and race, the tie of a down trod-
den and despised race. As300,000 slave
holders, by common tie, were able to
govern this nation for long time. 80 A.
000, 1000 people, bound together by much |
stronger tie, despised by the whole world |
as they have been, would constantly act |
and vote together; and their united vote
would constitute balance of power that
might control the government Of this ma
tion.
l submit, then, however clearly and
strongly we may admit the natural right
Of the negro; l submit it to the intelli-
gence of the people, that colored State
governments are not desirable; that they |
will bring about results that are not to be
hoped for; that finally they would threat.