Year: 1865

OBERLIN, July "a, 1868.


General j. ID. Coz:


DEAR SIR: The people OF this place,
with entire unanimity, sought your nomi..
nation for Governor of Ohio. With equal
unanimity we desire to promote. your cleo
ton. We rejoiced in your nomination, be-
cause we had perfect confidence that your
views and sympathies we're in harmony with
our own on the great issue before us-the
equality of all men before the law: We
still believe that we were not mistaken -
But some of us have been startled by re-
port, coming directly from Warren, to the
effect that you arc opposed to giving the
elective franchise to colored people, and that
you requested the editor of the Chronicle
to publish your views on the subject. that
you might not lose the support Of Union
men in the Southern part Of the State
We do not credit the rumor, and yet it has
so disturbed some of your warmest supper
ters that the undersigned have been request
ed to address you on the subject. ..


We want to know directly from you your
views on the following subjects: LIST. Are
you in favor Of modifying our Constitution
so as to give the elective franchise to color.
ed men? I'd. In the reorganization of the
Southern States should the elective franchise
be secured to the colored people2


Among us there is but one opinion on this
subject, and we were never moro in earnest
on any political question. We believe that
the distinction made by our Constitution
between white and colored people was made
in the interest of slavery, and is Doth wick
ed and absurd. And we believe that to re-
construct the Southern States and admit
them with constitutions excluding colored
men from the polls would give the country
and the negro into the power oEthe very
men who have sought and still desire to
ruin the one and enslave the other.


Deliver the four millions of freed people
into the hands Of their former oppressors,
now embittered by their defeat, and they
will make their condition worse than before.
The Copperheads of the North, with the
united South, would gain control of the
General Government, and in various ways
would harrass and Cypress the negroes and
nation we can be so wicked as 10 deliver our
dom we are pledged to MAINTAIN. into the
pie that ever laid claim to civilization, a
terrible retrbution will await US. We speak
strongly that you may know how we feel on
the subject. .--'. .n,, ... .... .,


If it be said that the negroes of the South
arc ignorant and unfit for the elective fran
chise, we answer, grant it but this has
nothing to de with the question. Our col
ored soldiers who have fought three years
for the Union are not Of this class, nor are
those who have always been free, many of
whom have amassed wealth. 1t is for these
we ask the elective franchise. If it should
take yee-,. or two or three, to prepare the
mass tt -, we would be content. Though
we believe our free institutions would be
safer in the hands of the celored people as
they are, than in the hands of the best half
of the white population of the South. The
question is: Shall colored people he allowed
to vote? The enemies of our country say
no. The mass of the loyal say yes. So
decided are our people en- the subject, that
they could by no means be persuaded to
vote for man known TO be opposed to it.
The Union party of this country. 30 far as
we know, are unanimous on the subject, and
we believe that throughout the country the
party can be rallied on this platform with
greater enthusiasm than on any other. All
the prominent religious papers, and, with
one or two exceptions, all the leading Re-
publican papers are in favor of universal
suffrage. We believe that nothing could
be more suicidal to our party and to the
cause of freedom than to reject this doctrine.


Please let us hear from you soon. 1t is
not our wish to publish your views unless
you desire it. But we wish to have our own
minds relieved, and to be able to contradict
any false reports that may be in circulation
regarding your views on this subject.


Very truly and sincerely yours, g r


... ..s Il. III, FAIRoHILD,


.t '.... SAMUEL PLUMB,


Committee