The Florida sentinel., 1900-01-26
MORGAN OF ALABAMA
DIFFERS WIDELY FROM JEFFERSON
ON THE NEGRO'S WORTH.
Johh r. Brace, a Self Taught
Black Man, a Former Slave,
Strikes Back at the Sena-
tOrbV Citing Jefferson
THE NEGR0'S CITIZENSHIP

- =" oPpoSitlOH TO a reSOlutiO
offered by Senator Pritchard of Mort
Carolina, declaring that any state en-
actment combining the right to vote &
those descended from certain person
or classes of persons Is In violation O
the 18th and 14th amendments, ant
republican Institution, made that reso
iueion the basis of an argument il
"nlch ne ingeniOusly attempts tC
prove that the Negro is inferior il
mental and moral equipment to the
caucasian race, Of whicn race the
honorable Senator from Alabama
prldes hlnself on being memb r. On
this question opinions differ, and as
the Senator from Alabama has a per-
feet right to his opinion; he will at
Ieast accord to others the right to
differ from his views, which are some
what radical and sweeping. Thomas
Jefferson, very eminent and respect
ed democrat, who was also a scholar, a
gentleman and thinker, on page 1858
IN his Notes on Virginia, approaches
che subject of the equality of the races
In somewhat different form and man
ner tIOm the honorable aud distin
guished senator of Alabama, who ap-
pears to have discovered what few
Others Of the greatest minds in this
country and Euro " have discovered in
respect of this subject, that is, that the
Negro Is fundamentally and eternally
lnferiOr to the Caucasian race But
the honorable senator has only made a
declaration and a declaration without
proofs are valueless. Now, Mr., Jeffer-
son says -
" rhe opinion that they are inferior
In the faculties of reason and imagina-
tor must be hazarded with great diff
dence. TO justify general cJncIu-
sIOn requires many observations, even
where The subject may be submitted to
the anatomical knife. TO optical glasses,
to analysis by fire or solvents, How
much more, then, where 1t is faculty.
not substance. VIZ are examining:
where it eludes the research of all the
senses, where the conditions of its ex-
istenCe are various and varIOusly COM
blnad ;Where the effects of those which
are present or absent bid defiance To
calculation; let M add, too, as cir
cumstance of great tenderness, where
our conclusion would degrade whole
race of men fir IN the rank in the scale
OF beings which their Creator maI Der-
a M haU mi ~
pruaCh it must be said that though for |
a century and half we have under
our eyes the races of black and red
men, they have never yet been viewed
by us as subjects of natural history. |
advance 1T, therefore, as a suspicion |
only, that the blacks, whether original |
ly distinct race, or made distinct by |
time and circumstance, are inferior to |
the whites IN the endOwments both of |
body and mInd."
Thus it will be seen that Senator |
Morgan of Alabama and the great |
hOmas Jefferson of Virginia hold
widely divergent views upon a subject |
which neither is competent to decide |
or the very good reason that man IS
mind, and such Is neither black nor
white.
Mr.. Jefferson. aIIuding to these
opinions several years after ward in a
etter addressed to M.GregOire (bishop
# BlOis and senator of France), says:
"My doubts were the re .ult of per-
Onal observa ion on the limited
pere OF my own state, where the op-
IOrtunities Tor the development Of
heir genins were not fay rable, and
hose of exercising iG still less 50.
them, therefore, with great |
IesI alton but whatever be their de-
rec OF talent, 1t is no measure of Sheir
tights. Because Sir Isaac Newton was
uperlOr tO Others in understanding, he
1aS not, therefore. lord Of the person
+ property of others. On this subject
hey are gaining daily in the opinions
I nations, aAd hopeful advances are
laklng toward their re-establishment
n All equal footing with other cOIOrs of
he human family. pray you, there
Jre to accept my thanks lOr the many
Instances you haYe enabled me tO Oh
arve of respectable intelligence in
hat race of men which cannot fail to
ave effect IN Fastening the day of
herr relief"
"rhe honorable senator from Ala
Ot content with reducing us as a race
, the lowest strata in the scale of
orals and intelligence, boldly as
.verates that We are unfit to partici-
ate in the administration of govern
ent because some members of our
ice have been known to sell their vote
n the paltry sum of 81 per capita, as
lOugh white IN n had never bought
nd sold the votes of white men for
rger sums! But this is not argu-
ent. nator Morgan is ingenious.
Is objections to the Negro are mar
w and prejudiced, The splendid