Year: 1875

population OF perhaps fifty millions, and
with territory the largest IN the world
with perhaps one exception, and with
all its laws, its powers aud authority
exerted to protect the rights and liber-
ties of its people. Its flag is the ac-
knOwledged symbol Of liberty all over
the world, In every nation and cline
aud tongue, wherever this flag is seen,
It is recognized rs the emblem Of TIE
great confederate republic of Amsrics,
whose powers are dedicated to the pro-
lection Of the, liberties and to the pr =
motion Of the happiness and welfare Ct
its people. The fundamental p1liticsi
maxim OF the government is that it Je
rives its existence and powers from
the people, and that it exists for their
benefit. 1t thus reverses the pol!,i Al
msxims of other governments from the
remotest period of time; that is
that government exists for the benefit
of the ruling powers, aud that the
people, their rights and welfare, are OF
secondary Importance. When this ma
tiOnai government was formed, your
fathers and mothers and ancestors were
held in slavery. This system of slavery
had been introduced into the American n
provinces by the laws and policy OF the
government of Great Britain. Slavery
then existed in all the States composing
the Union, with one exception. The
northern States at an early day adopted
d system of gradual emancipation. This
resulted in the removal of nearly all the
slaves from those States TO the southern
States Of the Union. Here your race
multiplied and was most prolific In
less than century it had increased from
. = 4, %
million of souls. The late great civil war
of the States resulted in your emancipa-
ton. No nation, in ancient or modern
times, engsged in civil war, ever mus
tered such armies, or fought such battles,
as did the people OF this great republic.
In the latter part of this war many OF
your race were drawn into the Federal
armies. That government offered you
your freedom. To accept the offer was
but natural. Many Of the southern
leaders were in favor Of making
you q like offer. But that pol
icy did not prevail, and by
your arms you helped to achieve your
own emancipation. President LincOln's
emancipation proclamation was the first
official recognition OfyOur rights to free
dom. That proclamation was Issued on
the thirty-first of September, 1868. The
triumph of the Federal arms gave force
and permanency to the emancipation
proclamation Of the President. The
several amendments to the Federal con-
stitutiOn, since adopted, placed your
freedom and your civil aud political
nights under the protection Of that instTu-
meDt and OF the Federal government.
Your rights and those of the white race
are thus put upon the same footing. You
and l are equal before the law. All the
powers Of that government are pledged
for your enjoyment of the liberty and
the rights guaranteed by the cCnstitu-
ton. The white race, in the war OF the
revolution, achieved their own iude-
penGence and established this govern
ment. That government gave you your
liberties. You were taken from your
former owners by its strong arm, and at
the cost OF millions OF its treasure and
oceans of the blood of the white race,
and you were made the equal before the
law If the richest and greatest of the
white race. No power on the earth
couii re-ensiaye you. You have been
told by bad men that the white race Of
the south are your enemies, and that
they would re-enslave you. This is
false. No man OF truth snd honor
would tell you so. the white race of
the south are your natural friends Iu
the late civil war the white race iu the
south were engaged in deadly )9fiict
with the governments, growing out of
disputed constitutional questions
questions involving the rights OF the
States and the powers of the general
government. They would have pre-
vented your emancipation if they could,
but the white race in the south was itself
overcome and conquered by the crest
armies OF the government. While your
former owners would have prevented
your emancipation, yet they would not
now re-enslsve you il it were left to
their own free will. Those who tel yOu
otherwise utter calumny on the white
race, and they know it to be q caiumny.
Having thus had conferred upon you
st cost in blood and treasure so great
the priceless boon of liberty, it remains
TO be seen whether your race will appre.
ciate this great act OF beneficence OF
the part of the nation and prove your.
selves worthy the liberties of Ameri-
can citizenship. In the history Of the
human family there is no instance re-
corded Of a government, at such a cost
to its people and treasure, emancipat-
ing race of people and elevsting it to
full citizenship. To fulfill your duties to
this gOvernmsnt,yOu should always bear
to il true allegiance. But this is not your
whole duty. You should obey all its
laws; you should be sober and industri-
Gus people, and by your energy and fru-
gal habits, you should add to the aggre-
gate wealth Of the nation, and acquire
for yourselves the necessarie5 and COM
- aL, H. 81 10 4
indolent, or dissipGted, you will become
paupers and vsgabOnds. All Of that class
will prove themselves unfit for liberty.
Liberty consists in the rational enjoy
ment of equal and just laws. Liberty
is not licentiousness. 1t is not in the
unbridIed indulgence of your own Iusts
or passions. These indulgences are sure
of destroying your lives and usefulness.
No physical law is more certain in its
regults than that such habits beget dis
ease and death. All that class OF your
race will rapidly disappear. The gov
ernment has given you your liberties,
and conferred upon you the full citizen
ship which was the biTthright of the
white race. 1t can do no more
for you. 1t cannot place you in ease and
wealth. These things can be acquired
by you, as they are by the industrious
and frugal Of the white race. 1t is the
great law of our being that we must
live by the sweat of our brow. By in.
dustry, sobriety and frugal habits, every
man, in the enjoyment OF good health,
can acquire the necessaries and COM
forts Of life. Intelligence is power, and,
when combined with frugal aud indus
trious habits, it is wealth. The value Of
intelligence cannot be OveTestimated.
You need most the means of education.
The grown up of your race are advanc-
ing and have advanced in intelligence
very much since your emancipation.
The education OF the people is the duty
OF the States in which you are citizens.
That does not pertain 70 the pOT ers and
duty OF the Federal government. The
white race OF Tennessee have, by their
own free will, voted a tax upon their
property to raise the means Of educating
the rising generation of the white and
black races. While by law the State
keeps the schools fOT the races separate,
j. gives equal advantages to each race.
Ihe fact that the white race thus taxes
the property owned By it TO educate
your children is evidence of the con-
Viction on the mind Of that race that
they are interested in your intelligence
as race. 1t is an acknowledgment
that the two races have O common in
terest in each other and in each others
welfare. Intelligence, with industrious
and virtuous habits, will certainly begeC
respectsbility and social position. So