The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-19
0FFICIAL REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF
 THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF ALABAMA

hope we have proven the same to you. Do not expect more Of us than of any other race at the same stage uf de- velopments We know that the saliva tion of the negro is In your hands. You can make. us industrious, contented. loya. and useful citizens, CT you can make us shiftless. .discontented and good-for-nothing. You are framing a constitution for future government of generations of negroes Of Alabama, as well as of other races. We are in- terested, because we are lawabiding and must live up to your new constitu- tionor get out. Say to us, forsooth. that you are black, that your hair is kinky or features Hamitic, or say that, forsooth, some negro blood is in your veins, you cannot enjoy the franchise in Alabama, and you at once relegate us to the ranks of a brute. We would have not one incentive to go forward. You would cripple an already weak race.
 We are among you, and satisfied. It was not of our own free will that we are here. Like other nations of the far East. we did not migrate here and force ourselves upon you. Had we done so it might be fair and conserva- tive that you say to us. Get out," or drive us out by discriminative methods that were basely unjust. But, gentle men. we were snatched from our motherland, heathens. By the provi- dence of God we were brought here, and for three hundred years tolled for you as your slaves. ..
 American slavery, though wrong, was blessing to us. In its school of three hundred years We learned trades, ls.v t~waAw -R Jesus Christ. There is just God who guards the destiny of nations and in His own time slavery was abolished and we were left among you ignorant of franchise and government with no education or character.
 Be conservative to us, gentlemen. Do not deal crushing blow. A blow from you at this critical moment with no nag except the glorious stare and stripes for which we have bied and died; no friend except you, whose fathers and mothers we have guarded fromsharm, and you yourself whom we have cherished and cared for while the Southern man fought. for a Lost Cause would be as Brutus's dagger of steel warming it's blade in the life-blood of Caesar. The tickle of our hoe has made your lands laugh forth In har- vests. Our axe has cleared your forests. We have built your cities. Our picks have sunk down into the bowels of the earth and thrown up iron and coal We emerged from slavery and went at once to work at whatever prise you valued our labor. We do not cause apy organic disturbance by strikes. We are striving to fit our selves for citizenship. We petition and implore you to not disturb our con- kA.z fH.. place an educational qualification that touches all alike. we are satisfied. In short. we. though only thirty-five years old, are willing to be weighed in the scale of manhood and measured with a tape of justice.
 Alabama one of the greatest States of the Union: one upon whom the eyes bf the world are turned at present. a State whose alphabetical arrangement stends first of the States of the great est country of Gods creation Ca coun- try upon whose territory the sun never sets). can not afford to disfrancise several hundreI thousand Of it's citi- zens: can not afford to remove the public educational fund from them. An educated dog is worth a hundred good d-for-nothing CUTS. We do not demand anything of you. We can not demand If we would. We simply en- treat you as honest citizens to frame a constitution that will not disgrace the wisdom of Alabama; that will not cause us to degenerate; that will not cause us discontent; that will not cause us to doubt your friendship which we have cherished foV near four hundred years. Frame a constitution that will be pride of the State-one that we will be proud of. as we'll as you; one Al aA |. , consultation that will place you at the where you belong. Do not drive us into degredation. What incentive would $lOoOO,OoO property qualidca- ton be to us?
 Don't drive us from you; we are 1ere and want tc remain; God intended us to be here and He intends us to re- main. Had it not been so we would have perished long ago. Before the onward tread of Anglo-Saxon ciyiliza- ton races have vanished more rapidly than extinction from shot and shell or bayonct. The New Zealander, Paci- fic Islander and American Indian have all gone to their grave; they were Tot able to withstand the environments of the Nineteenth Century civilization. No race. save the American negro. has been able to gaze into the blue eyes of the Anglo Saxon for centuries al d live. God so constructed us of better stamina. We have lived, increased and prospered. Remember, gentlemen, that might is not at all times right. Judge not the whole race by it's crimi- nals. All races have them, and the better element of us. as of you, abhor crime and do not wish to be called criminals. All races have them, and the better element of us, as of you, abhor {crime and do not wish to be called criminals because we have criminals in our race.
 The constitution that you frame shall five as an everlasting monument not of stone or brass, nor Egyptian, to crum- ble and decay under the chemical changes of tune, but shall stand out prominent above all other Alabama documents after death and the grave have claimed you. It shall live on after God has called you to rest. Iea- born generations of aegroes and whites shall look up to it after your flesh has beee devoured by the earth-worm, your bones bleached in the tomb, and your soul given account for your earthly transit.
 Whether this monument will be one of honor or disgrace to the name of OUT fair State, to it's citizens, bcA1 black and white, and to you, will de- pen6 upon your election.
 Respectfully,
 Willis E. Sterrs, M. D.,
 Decatur, Alabama.
 MT. Burns-(During the reading)-I rise for information. With all due re- spect to the gentleman from Morgan, I m t.N n