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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12101 ***
+
+A SOCIAL HISTORY
+OF THE
+American Negro
+
+
+BEING
+A HISTORY OF THE NEGRO PROBLEM
+IN THE UNITED STATES
+
+INCLUDING
+A HISTORY AND STUDY OF THE
+REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA
+
+by BENJAMIN BRAWLEY
+1921
+
+
+
+
+
+TO THE MEMORY OF
+NORWOOD PENROSE HALLOWELL
+
+PATRIOT
+1839-1914
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  _These all died in faith, not having received
+  the promises, but having seen them afar off_.
+
+Norwood Penrose Hallowell was born in Philadelphia April 13, 1839. He
+inherited the tradition of the Quakers and grew to manhood in a
+strong anti-slavery atmosphere. The home of his father, Morris L.
+Hallowell--the "House called Beautiful," in the phrase of Oliver Wendell
+Holmes--was a haven of rest and refreshment for wounded soldiers of the
+Union Army, and hither also, after the assault upon him in the Senate,
+Charles Sumner had come for succor and peace. Three brothers in one
+way or another served the cause of the Union, one of them, Edward
+N. Hallowell, succeeding Robert Gould Shaw in the Command of the
+Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers. Norwood Penrose
+Hallowell himself, a natural leader of men, was Harvard class orator in
+1861; twenty-five years later he was the marshal of his class; and in
+1896 he delivered the Memorial Day address in Sanders Theater. Entering
+the Union Army with promptness in April, 1861, he served first in
+the New England Guards, then as First Lieutenant in the Twentieth
+Massachusetts, won a Captain's commission in November, and within the
+next year took part in numerous engagements, being wounded at Glendale
+and even more severely at Antietam. On April 17, 1863, he became
+Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts, and on May 30
+Colonel of the newly organized Fifty-Fifth. Serving in the investment
+of Fort Wagner, he was one of the first to enter the fort after its
+evacuation. His wounds ultimately forced him to resign his commission,
+and in November, 1863, he retired from the service. He engaged in
+business in New York, but after a few years removed to Boston, where he
+became eminent for his public spirit. He was one of God's noblemen, and
+to the last he preserved his faith in the Negro whom he had been among
+the first to lead toward the full heritage of American citizenship. He
+died April 11, 1914.
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE COMING OF NEGROES TO AMERICA
+1. African Origins
+2. The Negro in Spanish Exploration
+3. Development of the Slave-Trade
+4. Planting of Slavery in the Colonies
+5. The Wake of the Slave-Ship
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE NEGRO IN THE COLONIES
+1. Servitude and Slavery
+2. The Indian, the Mulatto, and the Free Negro
+3. First Effort toward Social Betterment
+4. Early Insurrections
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE REVOLUTIONARY ERA
+1. Sentiment in England and America
+2. The Negro in the War
+3. The Northwest Territory and the Constitution
+4. Early Steps toward Abolition
+5. Beginning of Racial Consciousness
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE NEW WEST, THE SOUTH, AND THE WEST INDIES
+1. The Cotton-Gin, the New Southwest, and the First Fugitive Slave Law
+2. Toussaint L'Ouverture, Louisiana, and the Formal Closing of the
+    Slave-Trade
+3. Gabriel's Insurrection and the Rise of the Negro Problem
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+INDIAN AND NEGRO
+1. Creek, Seminole, and Negro to 1817: The War of 1812
+2. First Seminole War and the Treaties of Indian Spring and Fort Moultrie
+3. From the Treaty of Fort Moultrie to the Treaty of Payne's Landing
+4. Osceola and the Second Seminole War
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+EARLY APPROACH TO THE NEGRO PROBLEM
+1. The Ultimate Problem and the Missouri Compromise
+2. Colonization
+3. Slavery
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE NEGRO REPLY--I: REVOLT
+1. Denmark Vesey's Insurrection
+2. Nat Turner's Insurrection
+3. The _Amistad_ and _Creole_ Cases
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE NEGRO REPLY--II: ORGANIZATION AND AGITATION
+1. Walker's "Appeal"
+2. The Convention Movement
+3. Sojourner Truth and Woman Suffrage
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+LIBERIA
+1. The Place and the People
+2. History
+  (a) Colonization and Settlement
+  (b) The Commonwealth of Liberia
+  (c) The Republic of Liberia
+3. International Relations
+4. Economic and Social Conditions
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE NEGRO A NATIONAL ISSUE
+1. Current Tendencies
+2. The Challenge of the Abolitionists
+3. The Contest
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+SOCIAL PROGRESS, 1820-1860
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE CIVIL WAR AND EMANCIPATION
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE ERA OF ENFRANCHISEMENT
+1. The Problem
+2. Meeting the Problem
+3. Reaction: The Ku-Klux Klan
+4. Counter-Reaction: The Negro Exodus
+5. A Postscript on the War and Reconstruction
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE NEGRO IN THE NEW SOUTH
+1. Political Life: Disfranchisement
+2. Economic Life: Peonage
+3. Social Life: Proscription, Lynching
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+"THE VALE OF TEARS," 1890-1910
+1. Current Opinion and Tendencies
+2. Industrial Education: Booker T. Washington
+3. Individual Achievement: The Spanish-American War
+4. Mob Violence; Election Troubles; The Atlanta Massacre
+5. The Question of Labor
+6. Defamation; Brownsville
+7. The Dawn of a To-morrow
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE NEGRO IN THE NEW AGE
+1. Character of the Period
+2. Migration; East St. Louis
+3. The Great War
+4. High Tension: Washington, Chicago, Elaine
+5. The Widening Problem
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE NEGRO PROBLEM
+1. World Aspect
+2. The Negro in American Life
+3. Face to Face
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+In the following pages an effort is made to give fresh treatment to the
+history of the Negro people in the United States, and to present this
+from a distinct point of view, the social. It is now forty years since
+George W. Williams completed his _History of the Negro Race in America_,
+and while there have been many brilliant studies of periods or episodes
+since that important work appeared, no one book has again attempted to
+treat the subject comprehensively, and meanwhile the race has passed
+through some of its most critical years in America. The more outstanding
+political phases of the subject, especially in the period before the
+Civil War, have been frequently considered; and in any account of
+the Negro people themselves the emphasis has almost always been upon
+political and military features. Williams emphasizes this point of view,
+and his study of legal aspects is not likely soon to be superseded. A
+noteworthy point about the history of the Negro, however, is that laws
+on the statute-books have not necessarily been regarded, public opinion
+and sentiment almost always insisting on being considered. It is
+necessary accordingly to study the actual life of the Negro people in
+itself and in connection with that of the nation, and something like
+this the present work endeavors to do. It thus becomes not only a Social
+History of the race, but also the first formal effort toward a History
+of the Negro Problem in America.
+
+With this aim in mind, in view of the enormous amount of material,
+we have found it necessary to confine ourselves within very definite
+limits. A thorough study of all the questions relating to the Negro in
+the United States would fill volumes, for sooner or later it would touch
+upon all the great problems of American life. No attempt is made to
+perform such a task; rather is it intended to fix attention upon the
+race itself as definitely as possible. Even with this limitation there
+are some topics that might be treated at length, but that have already
+been studied so thoroughly that no very great modification is now likely
+to be made of the results obtained. Such are many of the questions
+revolving around the general subject of slavery. Wars are studied not so
+much to take note of the achievement of Negro soldiers, vital as that
+is, as to record the effect of these events on the life of the great
+body of people. Both wars and slavery thus become not more than
+incidents in the history of the ultimate problem.
+
+In view of what has been said, it is natural that the method of
+treatment should vary with the different chapters. Sometimes it is
+general, as when we touch upon the highways of American history.
+Sometimes it is intensive, as in the consideration of insurrections and
+early effort for social progress; and Liberia, as a distinct and much
+criticized experiment in government by American Negroes, receives very
+special attention. For the first time also an effort is now made to
+treat consecutively the life of the Negro people in America for the last
+fifty years.
+
+This work is the result of studies on which I have been engaged for
+a number of years and which have already seen some light in _A Short
+History of the American Negro_ and _The Negro in Literature and Art_;
+and acquaintance with the elementary facts contained in such books as
+these is in the present work very largely taken for granted. I feel
+under a special debt of gratitude to the New York State Colonization
+Society, which, coöperating with the American Colonization Society and
+the Board of Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia, in 1920
+gave me opportunity for some study at first hand of educational and
+social conditions on the West Coast of Africa; and most of all do I
+remember the courtesy and helpfulness of Dr. E.C. Sage and Dr. J.H.
+Dillard in this connection. In general I have worked independently
+of Williams, but any student of the subject must be grateful to that
+pioneer, as well as to Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, who has made contributions in
+so many ways. My obligations to such scholarly dissertations as those
+by Turner and Russell are manifest, while to Mary Stoughton Locke's
+_Anti-Slavery in America_--a model monograph--I feel indebted more than
+to any other thesis. Within the last few years, of course, the _Crisis_,
+the _Journal of Negro History_, and the _Negro Year-Book_ have in their
+special fields become indispensable, and to Dr. Carter G. Woodson and
+Professor M.N. Work much credit is due for the faith which has prompted
+their respective ventures. I take this occasion also to thank Professor
+W.E. Dodd, of the University of Chicago, who from the time of my
+entrance upon this field has generously placed at my disposal his
+unrivaled knowledge of the history of the South; and as always I must
+be grateful to my father, Rev. E.M. Brawley, for that stimulation and
+criticism which all my life have been most valuable to me. Finally, the
+work has been dedicated to the memory of a distinguished soldier, who,
+in his youth, in the nation's darkest hour, helped to lead a struggling
+people to freedom and his country to victory. It is now submitted to the
+consideration of all who are interested in the nation's problems, and
+indeed in any effort that tries to keep in mind the highest welfare of
+the country itself.
+
+BENJAMIN BRAWLEY. Cambridge, January 1, 1921.
+
+
+
+
+SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE COMING OF NEGROES TO AMERICA
+
+
+1. _African Origins_
+
+An outstanding characteristic of recent years has been an increasing
+recognition of the cultural importance of Africa to the world. From all
+that has been written three facts are prominent: (1) That at some time
+early in the Middle Ages, perhaps about the seventh century, there was
+a considerable infiltration of Arabian culture into the tribes living
+below the Sahara, something of which may to-day most easily be seen
+among such people as the Haussas in the Soudan and the Mandingoes along
+the West Coast; (2) That, whatever influences came in from the outside,
+there developed in Africa an independent culture which must not be
+underestimated; and (3) That, perhaps vastly more than has been
+supposed, this African culture had to do with early exploration and
+colonization in America. The first of these three facts is very
+important, but is now generally accepted and need not here detain us.
+For the present purpose the second and third demand more attention.
+
+The development of native African art is a theme of never-ending
+fascination for the ethnologist. Especially have striking resemblances
+between Negro and Oceanian culture been pointed out. In political
+organization as well as certain forms of artistic endeavor the Negro
+people have achieved creditable results, and especially have they been
+honored as the originators of the iron technique.[1] It has further been
+shown that fetichism, which is especially well developed along the
+West Coast and its hinterland, is at heart not very different from the
+manitou beliefs of the American Indians; and it is this connection that
+furnishes the key to some of the most striking results of the researches
+of the latest and most profound student of this and related problems.[2]
+
+[Footnote 1: Note article "Africa" in _New International Encyclopedia_,
+referring especially to the studies of Von Luschan.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Leo Wiener: _Africa and the Discovery of America_, Vol. I,
+Innes & Sons, Philadelphia, 1920.]
+
+From the Soudan radiated a culture that was destined to affect Europe
+and in course of time to extend its influence even beyond the Atlantic
+Ocean. It is important to remember that throughout the early history of
+Europe and up to the close of the fifteenth century the approach to the
+home of the Negro was by land. The Soudan was thought to be the edge of
+the then known world; Homer speaks of the Ethiopians as "the farthest
+removed of men, and separated into two divisions." Later Greek writers
+carry the description still further and speak of the two divisions as
+Eastern and Western--the Eastern occupying the countries eastward of the
+Nile, and the Western stretching from the western shores of that river
+to the Atlantic Coast. "One of these divisions," says Lady Lugard, "we
+have to acknowledge, was perhaps itself the original source of the
+civilization which has through Egypt permeated the Western world....
+When the history of Negroland comes to be written in detail, it may be
+found that the kingdoms lying toward the eastern end of the Soudan were
+the home of races who inspired, rather than of races who received, the
+traditions of civilization associated for us with the name of ancient
+Egypt."[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: _A Tropical Dependency_, James Nisbet & Co., Ltd., London,
+1906, p. 17.]
+
+If now we come to America, we find the Negro influence upon the Indian
+to be so strong as to call in question all current conceptions of
+American archæology and so early as to suggest the coming of men from
+the Guinea Coast perhaps even before the coming of Columbus.[1] The
+first natives of Africa to come were Mandingoes; many of the words
+used by the Indians in their daily life appear to be not more than
+corruptions or adaptations of words used by the tribes of Africa; and
+the more we study the remains of those who lived in America before 1492,
+and the far-reaching influence of African products and habits, the more
+must we acknowledge the strength of the position of the latest thesis.
+This whole subject will doubtless receive much more attention from
+scholars, but in any case it is evident that the demands of Negro
+culture can no longer be lightly regarded or brushed aside, and that as
+a scholarly contribution to the subject Wiener's work is of the very
+highest importance.
+
+[Footnote 1: See Wiener, I, 178.]
+
+
+2. _The Negro in Spanish Exploration_
+
+When we come to Columbus himself, the accuracy of whose accounts has so
+recently been questioned, we find a Negro, Pedro Alonso Niño, as the
+pilot of one of the famous three vessels. In 1496 Niño sailed to Santo
+Domingo and he was also with Columbus on his third voyage. With two men,
+Cristóbal de la Guerra, who served as pilot, and Luís de la Guerra,
+a Spanish merchant, in 1499 he planned what proved to be the first
+successful commercial voyage to the New World.
+
+The revival of slavery at the close of the Middle Ages and the beginning
+of the system of Negro slavery were due to the commercial expansion of
+Portugal in the fifteenth century. The very word _Negro_ is the modern
+Spanish and Portuguese form of the Latin _niger_. In 1441 Prince Henry
+sent out one Gonzales, who captured three Moors on the African coast.
+These men offered as ransom ten Negroes whom they had taken. The Negroes
+were taken to Lisbon in 1442, and in 1444 Prince Henry regularly began
+the European trade from the Guinea Coast. For fifty years his country
+enjoyed a monopoly of the traffic. By 1474 Negroes were numerous in
+Spain, and special interest attaches to Juan de Valladolid, probably the
+first of many Negroes who in time came to have influence and power over
+their people under the authority of a greater state. He was addressed as
+"judge of all the Negroes and mulattoes, free or slaves, which are in
+the very loyal and noble city of Seville, and throughout the whole
+archbishopric thereof." After 1500 there are frequent references to
+Negroes, especially in the Spanish West Indies. Instructions to Ovando,
+governor of Hispaniola, in 1501, prohibited the passage to the Indies of
+Jews, Moors, or recent converts, but authorized him to take over Negro
+slaves who had been born in the power of Christians. These orders were
+actually put in force the next year. Even the restricted importation
+Ovando found inadvisable, and he very soon requested that Negroes be not
+sent, as they ran away to the Indians, with whom they soon made friends.
+Isabella accordingly withdrew her permission, but after her death
+Ferdinand reverted to the old plan and in 1505 sent to Ovando seventeen
+Negro slaves for work in the copper-mines, where the severity of the
+labor was rapidly destroying the Indians. In 1510 Ferdinand directed
+that fifty Negroes be sent immediately, and that more be sent later; and
+in April of this year over a hundred were bought in the Lisbon market.
+This, says Bourne,[1] was the real beginning of the African slave-trade
+to America. Already, however, as early as 1504, a considerable number
+of Negroes had been introduced from Guinea because, as we are informed,
+"the work of one Negro was worth more than that of four Indians." In
+1513 thirty Negroes assisted Balboa in building the first ships made on
+the Pacific Coast of America. In 1517 Spain formally entered upon the
+traffic, Charles V on his accession to the throne granting "license
+for the introduction of Negroes to the number of four hundred," and
+thereafter importation to the West Indies became a thriving industry.
+Those who came in these early years were sometimes men of considerable
+intelligence, having been trained as Mohammedans or Catholics. By 1518
+Negroes were at work in the sugar-mills in Hispaniola, where they seem
+to have suffered from indulgence in drinks made from sugarcane. In 1521
+it was ordered that Negro slaves should not be employed on errands as
+in general these tended to cultivate too close acquaintance with the
+Indians. In 1522 there was a rebellion on the sugar plantations in
+Hispaniola, primarily because the services of certain Indians were
+discontinued. Twenty Negroes from the Admiral's mill, uniting with
+twenty others who spoke the same language, killed a number of
+Christians. They fled and nine leagues away they killed another Spaniard
+and sacked a house. One Negro, assisted by twelve Indian slaves, also
+killed nine other Christians. After much trouble the Negroes were
+apprehended and several of them hanged. It was about 1526 that Negroes
+were first introduced within the present limits of the United States,
+being brought to a colony near what later became Jamestown, Va. Here the
+Negroes were harshly treated and in course of time they rose against
+their oppressors and fired their houses. The settlement was broken up,
+and the Negroes and their Spanish companions returned to Hispaniola,
+whence they had come. In 1540, in Quivira, in Mexico, there was a
+Negro who had taken holy orders; and in 1542 there were established at
+Guamanga three brotherhoods of the True Cross of Spaniards, one being
+for Indians and one for Negroes.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Spain in America_, Vol. 3 in American Nation Series, p.
+270.]
+
+The outstanding instance of a Negro's heading in exploration is that of
+Estévanico (or Estévanillo, or Estévan, that is, Stephen), one of the
+four survivors of the ill-fated expedition of De Narvaez, who sailed
+from Spain, June 17, 1527. Having returned to Spain after many years of
+service in the New World, Pamfilo de Narvaez petitioned for a grant, and
+accordingly the right to conquer and colonize the country between the
+Rio de las Palmas, in eastern Mexico, and Florida was accorded him.[1]
+His force originally consisted of six hundred soldiers and
+colonists. The whole conduct of the expedition--incompetent in the
+extreme--furnished one of the most appalling tragedies of early
+exploration in America. The original number of men was reduced by half
+by storms and hurricanes and desertions in Santo Domingo and Cuba, and
+those who were left landed in April, 1528, near the entrance to Tampa
+Bay, on the west coast of Florida. One disaster followed another in the
+vicinity of Pensacola Bay and the mouth of the Mississippi until at
+length only four men survived. These were Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca;
+Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, a captain of infantry; Alonzo del Castillo
+Maldonado; and Estévanico, who had originally come from the west
+coast of Morocco and who was a slave of Dorantes. These men had most
+remarkable adventures in the years between 1528 and 1536, and as a
+narrative of suffering and privation Cabeza de Vaca's _Journal_ has
+hardly an equal in the annals of the continent. Both Dorantes and
+Estévanico were captured, and indeed for a season or two all four men
+were forced to sojourn among the Indians. They treated the sick, and
+with such success did they work that their fame spread far and wide
+among the tribes. Crowds followed them from place to place, showering
+presents upon them. With Alonzo de Castillo, Estévanico sojourned for
+a while with the Yguazes, a very savage tribe that killed its own male
+children and bought those of strangers. He at length escaped from these
+people and spent several months with the Avavares. He afterwards went
+with De Vaca to the Maliacones, only a short distance from the Avavares,
+and still later he accompanied Alonzo de Castillo in exploring the
+country toward the Rio Grande. He was unexcelled as a guide who could
+make his way through new territory. In 1539 he went with Fray Marcos of
+Nice, the Father Provincial of the Franciscan order in New Spain, as a
+guide to the Seven Cities of Cibola, the villages of the ancestors of
+the present Zuñi Indians in western New Mexico. Preceding Fray Marcos
+by a few days and accompanied by natives who joined him on the way, he
+reached Háwikuh, the southern-most of the seven towns. Here he and all
+but three of his Indian followers were killed.
+
+[Footnote 1: Frederick W. Hodge, 3, in _Spanish Explorers in the
+Southern United States_, 1528-1543, in "Original Narratives of Early
+American History," Scribner's, New York, 1907. Both the Narrative of
+Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca and the Narrative of the Expedition of
+Coronado, by Pedro de Casteñada, are edited by Hodge, with illuminating
+introductions.]
+
+
+3. _Development of the Slave-Trade_
+
+Portugal and Spain having demonstrated that the slave-trade was
+profitable, England also determined to engage in the traffic; and as
+early as 1530 William Hawkins, a merchant of Plymouth, visited the
+Guinea Coast and took away a few slaves. England really entered the
+field, however, with the voyage in 1562 of Captain John Hawkins, son of
+William, who in October of this year also went to the coast of Guinea.
+He had a fleet of three ships and one hundred men, and partly by the
+sword and partly by other means he took three hundred or more Negroes,
+whom he took to Santo Domingo and sold profitably.[1] He was richly
+laden going homeward and some of his stores were seized by Spanish
+vessels. Hawkins made two other voyages, one in 1564, and another,
+with Drake, in 1567. On his second voyage he had four armed ships, the
+largest being the _Jesus_, a vessel of seven hundred tons, and a force
+of one hundred and seventy men. December and January (1564-5) he spent
+in picking up freight, and by sickness and fights with the Negroes he
+lost many of his men. Then at the end of January he set out for the
+West Indies. He was becalmed for twenty-one days, but he arrived at the
+Island of Dominica March 9. He traded along the Spanish coasts and on
+his return to England he touched at various points in the West Indies
+and sailed along the coast of Florida. On his third voyage he had five
+ships. He himself was again in command of the _Jesus_, while Drake
+was in charge of the _Judith_, a little vessel of fifty tons. He got
+together between four and five hundred Negroes and again went to
+Dominica. He had various adventures and at last was thrown by a storm on
+the coast of Mexico. Here after three days he was attacked by a Spanish
+fleet of twelve vessels, and all of his ships were destroyed except the
+_Judith_ and another small vessel, the _Minion_, which was so crowded
+that one hundred men risked the dangers on land rather than go to
+sea with her. On this last voyage Hawkins and Drake had among their
+companions the Earls of Pembroke and Leicester, who were then, like
+other young Elizabethans, seeking fame and fortune. It is noteworthy
+that in all that he did Hawkins seems to have had no sense of cruelty or
+wrong. He held religious services morning and evening, and in the spirit
+of the later Cromwell he enjoined upon his men to "serve God daily, love
+one another, preserve their victuals, beware of fire, and keep good
+company." Queen Elizabeth evidently regarded the opening of the
+slave-trade as a worthy achievement, for after his second voyage she
+made Hawkins a knight, giving him for a crest the device of a Negro's
+head and bust with the arms securely bound.
+
+[Footnote 1: Edward E. Hale in Justin Winsor's _Narrative and Critical
+History of America_, III, 60.]
+
+France joined in the traffic in 1624, and then Holland and Denmark, and
+the rivalry soon became intense. England, with her usual aggressiveness,
+assumed a commanding position, and, much more than has commonly been
+supposed, the Navigation Ordinance of 1651 and the two wars with the
+Dutch in the seventeenth century had as their basis the struggle for
+supremacy in the slave-trade. The English trade proper began with the
+granting of rights to special companies, to one in 1618, to another in
+1631, and in 1662 to the "Company of Royal Adventurers," rechartered
+in 1672 as the "Royal African Company," to which in 1687 was given the
+exclusive right to trade between the Gold Coast and the British colonies
+in America. James, Duke of York, was interested in this last company,
+and it agreed to supply the West Indies with three thousand slaves
+annually. In 1698, on account of the incessant clamor of English
+merchants, the trade was opened generally, and any vessel carrying the
+British flag was by act of Parliament permitted to engage in it on
+payment of a duty of 10 per cent on English goods exported to Africa.
+New England immediately engaged in the traffic, and vessels from Boston
+and Newport went forth to the Gold Coast laden with hogsheads of rum. In
+course of time there developed a three-cornered trade by which molasses
+was brought from the West Indies to New England, made into rum to be
+taken to Africa and exchanged for slaves, the slaves in turn being
+brought to the West Indies or the Southern colonies.[1] A slave
+purchased for one hundred gallons of rum worth £10 brought from £20 to
+£50 when offered for sale in America.[2] Newport soon had twenty-two
+still houses, and even these could not satisfy the demand. England
+regarded the slave-trade as of such importance that when in 1713 she
+accepted the Peace of Utrecht she insisted on having awarded to her for
+thirty years the exclusive right to transport slaves to the Spanish
+colonies in America. When in the course of the eighteenth century the
+trade became fully developed, scores of vessels went forth each year
+to engage in it; but just how many slaves were brought to the present
+United States and how many were taken to the West Indies or South
+America, it is impossible to say. In 1726 the three cities of London,
+Bristol, and Liverpool alone had 171 ships engaged in the traffic, and
+the profits were said to warrant a thousand more, though such a number
+was probably never reached so far as England alone was concerned.[3]
+
+[Footnote 1: Bogart: _Economic History_, 72.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Coman: _Industrial History_, 78.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Ballagh: _Slavery in Virginia, 12_.]
+
+
+4. _Planting of Slavery in the Colonies_
+
+It is only for Virginia that we can state with definiteness the year
+in which Negro slaves were first brought to an English colony on the
+mainland. When legislation on the subject of slavery first appears
+elsewhere, slaves are already present. "About the last of August
+(1619)," says John Rolfe in John Smith's _Generall Historie_, "came in a
+Dutch man of warre, that sold us twenty Negars." These Negroes were
+sold into servitude, and Virginia did not give statutory recognition to
+slavery as a system until 1661, the importations being too small to make
+the matter one of importance. In this year, however, an act of assembly
+stated that Negroes were "incapable of making satisfaction for the time
+lost in running away by addition of time"; [1] and thus slavery gained a
+firm place in the oldest of the colonies.
+
+[Footnote 1: Hening: _Statutes_, II, _26_.]
+
+Negroes were first imported into Massachusetts from Barbadoes a year or
+two before 1638, but in John Winthrop's _Journal_, under date February
+26 of this year, we have positive evidence on the subject as follows:
+"Mr. Pierce in the Salem ship, the _Desire_, returned from the West
+Indies after seven months. He had been at Providence, and brought some
+cotton, and tobacco, and Negroes, etc., from thence, and salt from
+Tertugos. Dry fish and strong liquors are the only commodities for those
+parts. He met there two men-of-war, sent forth by the lords, etc., of
+Providence with letters of mart, who had taken divers prizes from the
+Spaniard and many Negroes." It was in 1641 that there was passed in
+Massachusetts the first act on the subject of slavery, and this was the
+first positive statement in any of the colonies with reference to
+the matter. Said this act: "There shall never be any bond slavery,
+villeinage, nor captivity among us, unless it be lawful captives, taken
+in just wars, and such strangers as willingly sell themselves or are
+sold to us, and these shall have all the liberties and Christian usages
+which the law of God established in Israel requires." This article
+clearly sanctioned slavery. Of the three classes of persons referred to,
+the first was made up of Indians, the second of white people under the
+system of indenture, and the third of Negroes. In this whole matter, as
+in many others, Massachusetts moved in advance of the other colonies.
+The first definitely to legalize slavery, in course of time she became
+also the foremost representative of sentiment against the system. In
+1646 one John Smith brought home two Negroes from the Guinea Coast,
+where we are told he "had been the means of killing near a hundred
+more." The General Court, "conceiving themselves bound by the first
+opportunity to bear witness against the heinous and crying sin of
+man-stealing," ordered that the Negroes be sent at public expense to
+their native country.[1] In later cases, however, Massachusetts did not
+find herself able to follow this precedent. In general in these early
+years New England was more concerned about Indians than about Negroes,
+as the presence of the former in large numbers was a constant menace,
+while Negro slavery had not yet assumed its most serious aspects.
+
+[Footnote 1: Coffin: _Slave Insurrections_, 8.]
+
+In New York slavery began under the Dutch rule and continued under the
+English. Before or about 1650 the Dutch West India Company brought some
+Negroes to New Netherland. Most of these continued to belong to the
+company, though after a period of labor (under the common system of
+indenture) some of the more trusty were permitted to have small farms,
+from the produce of which they made return to the company. Their
+children, however, continued to be slaves. In 1664 New Netherland became
+New York. The next year, in the code of English laws that was drawn
+up, it was enacted that "no Christian shall be kept in bond slavery,
+villeinage, or captivity, except who shall be judged thereunto by
+authority, or such as willingly have sold or shall sell themselves." As
+at first there was some hesitancy about making Negroes Christians, this
+act, like the one in Massachusetts, by implication permitted slavery.
+
+It was in 1632 that the grant including what is now the states of
+Maryland and Delaware was made to George Calvert, first Lord Baltimore.
+Though slaves are mentioned earlier, it was in 1663-4 that the Maryland
+Legislature passed its first enactment on the subject of slavery. It was
+declared that "all Negroes and other slaves within this province, and
+all Negroes and other slaves to be hereinafter imported into this
+province, shall serve during life; and all children born of any Negro
+or other slave, shall be slaves as their fathers were, for the term of
+their lives."
+
+In Delaware and New Jersey the real beginnings of slavery are unusually
+hazy. The Dutch introduced the system in both of these colonies. In the
+laws of New Jersey the word _slaves_ occurs as early as 1664, and acts
+for the regulation of the conduct of those in bondage began with the
+practical union of the colony with New York in 1702. The lot of the
+slave was somewhat better here than in most of the colonies. Although
+the system was in existence in Delaware almost from the beginning of the
+colony, it did not receive legal recognition until 1721, when there was
+passed an act providing for the trial of slaves in a special court with
+two justices and six freeholders.
+
+As early as 1639 there are incidental reference to Negroes in
+Pennsylvania, and there are frequent references after this date.[1] In
+this colony there were strong objections to the importing of Negroes in
+spite of the demand for them. Penn in his charter to the Free Society of
+Traders in 1682 enjoined upon the members of this company that if they
+held black slaves these should be free at the end of fourteen years,
+the Negroes then to become the company's tenants.[2] In 1688 there
+originated in Germantown a protest against Negro slavery that was "the
+first formal action ever taken against the barter in human flesh within
+the boundaries of the United States." [3] Here a small company of
+Germans was assembled April 18, 1688, and there was drawn up a document
+signed by Garret Hendericks, Franz Daniel Pastorius, Dirck Op den
+Graeff, and Abraham Op den Graeff. The protest was addressed to the
+monthly meeting of the Quakers about to take place in Lower Dublin.
+The monthly meeting on April 30 felt that it could not pretend to take
+action on such an important matter and referred it to the quarterly
+meeting in June. This in turn passed it on to the yearly meeting, the
+highest tribunal of the Quakers. Here it was laid on the table, and
+for the next few years nothing resulted from it. About 1696, however,
+opposition to slavery on the part of the Quakers began to be active. In
+the colony at large before 1700 the lot of the Negro was regularly
+one of servitude. Laws were made for servants, white or black, and
+regulations and restrictions were largely identical. In 1700, however,
+legislation began more definitely to fix the status of the slave. In
+this year an act of the legislature forbade the selling of Negroes out
+of the province without their consent, but in other ways it denied the
+personality of the slave. This act met further formal approval in 1705,
+when special courts were ordained for the trial and punishment of
+slaves, and when importation from Carolina was forbidden on the ground
+that it made trouble with the Indians nearer home. In 1700 a maximum
+duty of 20s. was placed on each Negro imported, and in 1705 this was
+doubled, there being already some competition with white labor. In 1712
+the Assembly sought to prevent importation altogether by a duty of £20
+a head. This act was repealed in England, and a duty of £5 in 1715 was
+also repealed. In 1729, however, the duty was fixed at £2, at which
+figure it remained for a generation.
+
+[Footnote 1: Turner: _The Negro in Pennsylvania_, 1.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., 21.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Faust: _The German Element in the United States_, Boston,
+1909, I, 45.]
+
+It was almost by accident that slavery was officially recognized in
+Connecticut in 1650. The code of laws compiled for the colony in this
+year was especially harsh on the Indians. It was enacted that certain of
+them who incurred the displeasure of the colony might be made to serve
+the person injured or "be shipped out and exchanged for Negroes." In
+1680 the governor of the colony informed the Board of Trade that "as for
+blacks there came sometimes three or four in a year from Barbadoes, and
+they are usually sold at the rate of £22 apiece." These people were
+regarded rather as servants than as slaves, and early legislation was
+mainly in the line of police regulations designed to prevent their
+running away.
+
+In 1652 it was enacted in Rhode Island that all slaves brought into the
+colony should be set free after ten years of service. This law was not
+designed, as might be supposed, to restrict slavery. It was really a
+step in the evolution of the system, and the limit of ten years was by
+no means observed. "The only legal recognition of the law was in the
+series of acts beginning January 4, 1703, to control the wandering of
+African slaves and servants, and another beginning in April, 1708, in
+which the slave-trade was indirectly legalized by being taxed."[1] "In
+course of time Rhode Island became the greatest slave-trader in the
+country, becoming a sort of clearing-house for the other colonies."[2]
+
+[Footnote 1: William T. Alexander: History of the Colored Race in
+America, New Orleans, 1887, p. 136.]
+
+[Footnote 2: DuBois: Suppression of the Slave-Trade, 34.]
+
+New Hampshire, profiting by the experience of the neighboring colony of
+Massachusetts, deemed it best from the beginning to discourage
+slavery. There were so few Negroes in the colony as to form a quantity
+practically negligible. The system was recognized, however, an act being
+passed in 1714 to regulate the conduct of slaves, and another four years
+later to regulate that of masters.
+
+In North Carolina, even more than in most of the colonies, the system
+of Negro slavery was long controlled by custom rather than by legal
+enactment. It was recognized by law in 1715, however, and police
+regulations to govern the slaves were enacted. In South Carolina the
+history of slavery is particularly noteworthy. The natural resources
+of this colony offered a ready home for the system, and the laws here
+formulated were as explicit as any ever enacted. Slaves were first
+imported from Barbadoes, and their status received official confirmation
+in 1682. By 1720 the number had increased to 12,000, the white people
+numbering only 9,000. By 1698 such was the fear from the preponderance
+of the Negro population that a special act was passed to encourage white
+immigration. Legislation "for the better ordering of slaves" was passed
+in 1690, and in 1712 the first regular slave law was enacted. Once
+before 1713, the year of the Assiento Contract of the Peace of Utrecht,
+and several times after this date, prohibitive duties were placed on
+Negroes to guard against their too rapid increase. By 1734, however,
+importation had again reached large proportions; and in 1740, in
+consequence of recent insurrectionary efforts, a prohibitive duty
+several times larger than the previous one was placed upon Negroes
+brought into the province.
+
+The colony of Georgia was chartered in 1732 and actually founded the
+next year. Oglethorpe's idea was that the colony should be a refuge for
+persecuted Christians and the debtor classes of England. Slavery was
+forbidden on the ground that Georgia was to defend the other English
+colonies from the Spaniards on the South, and that it would not be able
+to do this if like South Carolina it dissipated its energies in guarding
+Negro slaves. For years the development of Georgia was slow, and the
+prosperous condition of South Carolina constantly suggested to the
+planters that "the one thing needful" for their highest welfare was
+slavery. Again and again were petitions addressed to the trustees,
+George Whitefield being among those who most urgently advocated the
+innovation. Moreover, Negroes from South Carolina were sometimes hired
+for life, and purchases were openly made in Savannah. It was not until
+1749, however, that the trustees yielded to the request. In 1755 the
+legislature passed an act that regulated the conduct of the slaves, and
+in 1765 a more regular code was adopted. Thus did slavery finally gain a
+foothold in what was destined to become one of the most important of the
+Southern states.
+
+For the first fifty or sixty years of the life of the colonies the
+introduction of Negroes was slow; the system of white servitude
+furnished most of the labor needed, and England had not yet won
+supremacy in the slave-trade. It was in the last quarter of the
+seventeenth century that importations began to be large, and in the
+course of the eighteenth century the numbers grew by leaps and bounds.
+In 1625, six years after the first Negroes were brought to the colony,
+there were in Virginia only 23 Negroes, 12 male, 11 female. [1] In 1659
+there were 300; but in 1683 there were 3,000 and in 1708, 12,000. In
+1680 Governor Simon Bradstreet reported to England with reference to
+Massachusetts that "no company of blacks or slaves" had been brought
+into the province since its beginning, for the space of fifty years,
+with the exception of a small vessel that two years previously, after a
+twenty months' voyage to Madagascar, had brought hither between forty
+and fifty Negroes, mainly women and children, who were sold for £10,
+£15, and £20 apiece; occasionally two or three Negroes were brought from
+Barbadoes or other islands, and altogether there were in Massachusetts
+at the time not more than 100 or 120.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Virginia Magazine of History_, VII, 364.]
+
+The colonists were at first largely opposed to the introduction of
+slavery, and numerous acts were passed prohibiting it in Virginia,
+Massachusetts, and elsewhere; and in Georgia, as we have seen, it had at
+first been expressly forbidden. English business men, however, had no
+scruples about the matter. About 1663 a British Committee on
+Foreign Plantations declared that "black slaves are the most useful
+appurtenances of a plantation," [1] and twenty years later the Lords
+Commissioners of Trade stated that "the colonists could not possibly
+subsist" without an adequate supply of slaves. Laws passed in the
+colonies were regularly disallowed by the crown, and royal governors
+were warned that the colonists would not be permitted to "discourage a
+traffic so beneficial to the nation." Before 1772 Virginia passed not
+less than thirty-three acts looking toward the prohibition of the
+importation of slaves, but in every instance the act was annulled by
+England. In the far South, especially in South Carolina, we have seen
+that there were increasingly heavy duties. In spite of all such efforts
+for restriction, however, the system of Negro slavery, once well
+started, developed apace.
+
+[Footnote 1: Bogart: _Economic History_, 73.]
+
+In two colonies not among the original thirteen but important in the
+later history of the United States, Negroes were present at a very early
+date, in the Spanish colony of Florida from the very first, and in the
+French colony of Louisiana as soon as New Orleans really began to grow.
+Negroes accompanied the Spaniards in their voyages along the South
+Atlantic coast early in the sixteenth century, and specially trained
+Spanish slaves assisted in the founding of St. Augustine in 1565. The
+ambitious schemes in France of the great adventurer, John Law, and
+especially the design of the Mississippi Company (chartered 1717)
+included an agreement for the importation into Louisiana of six thousand
+white persons and three thousand Negroes, the Company having secured
+among other privileges the exclusive right to trade with the colony for
+twenty-five years and the absolute ownership of all mines in it. The
+sufferings of some of the white emigrants from France--the kidnapping,
+the revenge, and the chicanery that played so large a part--all make
+a story complete in itself. As for the Negroes, it was definitely
+stipulated that these should not come from another French colony without
+the consent of the governor of that colony. The contract had only begun
+to be carried out when Law's bubble burst. However, in June, 1721, there
+were 600 Negroes in Louisiana; in 1745 the number had increased to
+2020. The stories connected with these people are as tragic and wildly
+romantic as are most of the stories in the history of Louisiana. In
+fact, this colony from the very first owed not a little of its abandon
+and its fascination to the mysticism that the Negroes themselves brought
+from Africa. In the midst of much that is apocryphal one or two events
+or episodes stand out with distinctness. In 1729, Perier, governor at
+the time, testified with reference to a small company of Negroes who
+had been sent against the Indians as follows: "Fifteen Negroes in whose
+hands we had put weapons, performed prodigies of valor. If the blacks
+did not cost so much, and if their labors were not so necessary to the
+colony, it would be better to turn them into soldiers, and to dismiss
+those we have, who are so bad and so cowardly that they seem to have
+been manufactured purposely for this colony[1]." Not always, however,
+did the Negroes fight against the Indians. In 1730 some representatives
+of the powerful Banbaras had an understanding with the Chickasaws by
+which the latter were to help them in exterminating all the white people
+and in setting up an independent republic[2]. They were led by a strong
+and desperate Negro named Samba. As a result of this effort for freedom
+Samba and seven of his companions were broken on the wheel and a woman
+was hanged. Already, however, there had been given the suggestion of the
+possible alliance in the future of the Indian and the Negro. From the
+very first also, because of the freedom from restraint of all the
+elements of population that entered into the life of the colony, there
+was the beginning of that mixture of the races which was later to tell
+so vitally on the social life of Louisiana and whose effects are so
+readily apparent even to-day.
+
+[Footnote 1: Gayarré: _History of Louisiana_, I, 435.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., I, 440.]
+
+
+5. The Wake of the Slave-Ship
+
+Thus it was that Negroes came to America. Thus it was also, we might
+say, that the Negro Problem came, though it was not for decades, not
+until the budding years of American nationality, that the ultimate
+reaches of the problem were realized. Those who came were by no means
+all of exactly the same race stock and language. Plantations frequently
+exhibited a variety of customs, and sometimes traditional enemies became
+brothers in servitude. The center of the colonial slave-trade was the
+African coast for about two hundred miles east of the great Niger River.
+From this comparatively small region came as many slaves as from all the
+rest of Africa together. A number of those who came were of entirely
+different race stock from the Negroes; some were Moors, and a very few
+were Malays from Madagascar.
+
+The actual procuring of the slaves was by no means as easy a process as
+is sometimes supposed. In general the slave mart brought out the most
+vicious passions of all who were in any way connected with the traffic.
+The captain of a vessel had to resort to various expedients to get his
+cargo. His commonest method was to bring with him a variety of gay
+cloth, cheap ornaments, and whiskey, which he would give in exchange for
+slaves brought to him. His task was most simple when a chieftain of
+one tribe brought to him several hundred prisoners of war. Ordinarily,
+however, the work was more toilsome, and kidnapping a favorite method,
+though individuals were sometimes enticed on vessels. The work was
+always dangerous, for the natives along the slave-coast soon became
+suspicious. After they had seen some of their tribesmen taken away, they
+learned not to go unarmed while a slave-vessel was on the coast, and
+very often there were hand-to-hand encounters. It was not long before it
+began to be impressed upon those interested in the trade that it was not
+good business to place upon the captain of a vessel the responsibility
+of getting together three or four hundred slaves, and that it would be
+better if he could find his cargo waiting for him when he came. Thus
+arose the so-called factories, which were nothing more than warehouses.
+Along the coast were placed small settlements of Europeans, whose
+business it was to stimulate slave-hunting expeditions, negotiate for
+slaves brought in, and see that they were kept until the arrival of the
+ships. Practically every nation engaged in the traffic planted factories
+of this kind along the West Coast from Cape Verde to the equator; and
+thus it was that this part of Africa began to be the most flagrantly
+exploited region in the world; thus whiskey and all the other vices of
+civilization began to come to a simple and home-loving people.
+
+Once on board the slaves were put in chains two by two. When the ship
+was ready to start, the hold of the vessel was crowded with moody and
+unhappy wretches who most often were made to crouch so that their knees
+touched their chins, but who also were frequently made to lie on their
+sides "spoon-fashion." Sometimes the space between floor and ceiling
+was still further diminished by the water-barrels; on the top of these
+barrels boards were placed, on the boards the slaves had to lie, and
+in the little space that remained they had to subsist as well as they
+could. There was generally only one entrance to the hold, and provision
+for only the smallest amount of air through the gratings on the sides.
+The clothing of a captive, if there was any at all, consisted of only
+a rag about the loins. The food was half-rotten rice, yams, beans, or
+soup, and sometimes bread and meat; the cooking was not good, nor was
+any care taken to see that all were fed. Water was always limited, a
+pint a day being a generous allowance; frequently no more than a gill
+could be had. The rule was to bring the slaves from the hold twice a
+day for an airing, about eight o'clock in the morning and four in the
+afternoon; but this plan was not always followed. On deck they were made
+to dance by the lash, and they were also forced to sing. Thus were born
+the sorrow-songs, the last cry of those who saw their homeland vanish
+behind them--forever.
+
+Sometimes there were stern fights on board. Sometimes food was refused
+in order that death might be hastened. When opportunity served, some
+leaped overboard in the hope of being taken back to Africa. Throughout
+the night the hold resounded with the moans of those who awoke from
+dreams of home to find themselves in bonds. Women became hysterical, and
+both men and women became insane. Fearful and contagious diseases broke
+out. Smallpox was one of these. More common was ophthalmia, a frightful
+inflammation of the eyes. A blind, and hence a worthless, slave was
+thrown to the sharks. The putrid atmosphere, the melancholy, and the
+sudden transition from heat to cold greatly increased the mortality,
+and frequently when morning came a dead and a living slave were found
+shackled together. A captain always counted on losing one-fourth of his
+cargo. Sometimes he lost a great deal more.
+
+Back on the shore a gray figure with strained gaze watched the ship fade
+away--an old woman sadly typical of the great African mother. With her
+vision she better than any one else perceived the meaning of it all. The
+men with hard faces who came to buy and sell might deceive others, but
+not her. In a great vague way she felt that something wrong had attacked
+the very heart of her people. She saw men wild with the whiskey of the
+Christian nations commit crimes undreamed of before. She did not like
+the coast towns; the girl who went thither came not home again, and a
+young man was lost to all that Africa held dear. In course of time she
+saw every native craft despised, and instead of the fabric that her own
+fingers wove her children yearned for the tinsel and the gewgaws of the
+trader. She cursed this man, and she called upon all her spirits
+to banish the evil. But when at last all was of no avail--when the
+strongest youth or the dearest maiden had gone--she went back to her hut
+and ate her heart out in the darkness. She wept for her children and
+would not be comforted because they were not. Then slowly to the
+untutored mind somehow came the promise: "These are they which came out
+of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in
+the blood of the Lamb.... They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any
+more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb
+which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them
+unto living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from
+their eyes."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE NEGRO IN THE COLONIES
+
+
+The Negroes who were brought from Africa to America were brought hither
+to work, and to work under compulsion; hence any study of their social
+life in the colonial era must be primarily a study of their life under
+the system of slavery, and of the efforts of individuals to break away
+from the same.
+
+
+1. _Servitude and Slavery_
+
+For the antecedents of Negro slavery in America one must go back to the
+system of indentured labor known as servitude. This has been defined
+as "a legalized status of Indian, white, and Negro servants preceding
+slavery in most, if not all, of the English mainland colonies."[1] A
+study of servitude will explain many of the acts with reference to
+Negroes, especially those about intermarriage with white people. For the
+origins of the system one must go back to social conditions in England
+in the seventeenth century. While villeinage had been formally abolished
+in England at the middle of the fourteenth century, it still lingered in
+remote places, and even if men were not technically villeins they might
+be subjected to long periods of service. By the middle of the fifteenth
+century the demand for wool had led to the enclosure of many farms
+for sheep-raising, and accordingly to distress on the part of many
+agricultural laborers. Conditions were not improved early in the
+sixteenth century, and they were in fact made more acute, the abolition
+of the monasteries doing away with many of the sources of relief. Men
+out of work were thrown upon the highways and thus became a menace to
+society. In 1564 the price of wheat was 19s. a quarter and wages were
+7d. a day. The situation steadily grew worse, and in 1610, while wages
+were still the same, wheat was 35s. a quarter. Rents were constantly
+rising, moreover, and many persons died from starvation. In the course
+of the seventeenth century paupers and dissolute persons more and more
+filled the jails and workhouses.
+
+[Footnote 1: _New International Encyclopædia_, Article "Slavery."]
+
+Meanwhile in the young colonies across the sea labor was scarce, and it
+seemed to many an act of benevolence to bring from England persons who
+could not possibly make a living at home and give them some chance in
+the New World. From the very first, children, and especially young
+people between the ages of twelve and twenty, were the most desired. The
+London Company undertook to meet half of the cost of the transportation
+and maintenance of children sent out by parish authorities, the
+understanding being that it would have the service of the same until
+they were of age.[1] The Company was to teach each boy a trade and when
+his freedom year arrived was to give to each one fifty acres, a cow,
+some seed corn, tools, and firearms. He then became the Company's
+tenant, for seven years more giving to it one-half of his produce, at
+the end of which time he came into full possession of twenty-five acres.
+After the Company collapsed individuals took up the idea. Children under
+twelve years of age might be bound for seven years, and persons over
+twenty-one for no more than four; but the common term was five years.
+
+[Footnote 1: Coman: _Industrial History_, 42.]
+
+Under this system fell servants voluntary and involuntary. Hundreds of
+people, too poor to pay for their transportation, sold themselves for
+a number of years to pay for the transfer. Some who were known as
+"freewillers" had some days in which to dispose of themselves to the
+best advantage in America; if they could not make satisfactory terms,
+they too were sold to pay for the passage. More important from the
+standpoint of the system itself, however, was the number of involuntary
+servants brought hither. Political offenders, vagrants, and other
+criminals were thus sent to the colonies, and many persons, especially
+boys and girls, were kidnapped in the streets of London and "spirited"
+away. Thus came Irishmen or Scotchmen who had incurred the ire of the
+crown, Cavaliers or Roundheads according as one party or the other was
+out of power, and farmers who had engaged in Monmouth's rebellion; and
+in the year 1680 alone it was estimated that not less than ten thousand
+persons were "spirited" away from England. It is easy to see how such
+a system became a highly profitable one for shipmasters and those in
+connivance with them. Virginia objected to the criminals, and in 1671
+the House of Burgesses passed a law against the importing of such
+persons, and the same was approved by the governor. Seven years later,
+however, it was set aside for the transportation of political offenders.
+
+As having the status of an apprentice the servant could sue in court and
+he was regularly allowed "freedom dues" at the expiration of his term.
+He could not vote, however, could not bear weapons, and of course
+could not hold office. In some cases, especially where the system was
+voluntary, servants sustained kindly relations with their masters, a few
+even becoming secretaries or tutors. More commonly, however, the lot of
+the indentured laborer was a hard one, his food often being only coarse
+Indian meal, and water mixed with molasses. The moral effect of the
+system was bad in the fate to which it subjected woman and in the
+evils resulting from the sale of the labor of children. In this whole
+connection, however, it is to be remembered that the standards of the
+day were very different from those of our own. The modern humanitarian
+impulse had not yet moved the heart of England, and flogging was still
+common for soldiers and sailors, criminals and children alike.
+
+The first Negroes brought to the colonies were technically servants, and
+generally as Negro slavery advanced white servitude declined. James II,
+in fact, did whatever he could to hasten the end of servitude in order
+that slavery might become more profitable. Economic forces were with
+him, for while a slave varied in price from £10 to £50, the mere cost
+of transporting a servant was from £6 to £10. "Servitude became slavery
+when to such incidents as alienation, disfranchisement, whipping, and
+limited marriage were added those of perpetual service and a denial of
+civil, juridical, marital and property rights as well as the denial of
+the possession of children."[1] Even after slavery was well established,
+however, white men and women were frequently retained as domestic
+servants, and the system of servitude did not finally pass in all of its
+phases before the beginning of the Revolutionary War.
+
+[Footnote 1: _New International Encyclopædia_, Article "Slavery."]
+
+Negro slavery was thus distinctively an evolution. As the first Negroes
+were taken by pirates, the rights of ownership could not legally be
+given to those who purchased them; hence slavery by custom preceded
+slavery by statute. Little by little the colonies drifted into the
+sterner system. The transition was marked by such an act as that in
+Rhode Island, which in 1652 permitted a Negro to be bound for ten years.
+We have already referred to the Act of Assembly in Virginia in 1661 to
+the effect that Negroes were incapable of making satisfaction for time
+lost in running away by addition of time. Even before it had become
+generally enacted or understood in the colonies, however, that a child
+born of slave parents should serve for life, a new question had arisen,
+that of the issue of a free person and a slave. This led Virginia in
+1662 to lead the way with an act declaring that the status of a child
+should be determined by that of the mother,[1] which act both gave to
+slavery the sanction of law and made it hereditary. From this time
+forth Virginia took a commanding lead in legislation; and it is to be
+remembered that when we refer to this province we by no means have
+reference to the comparatively small state of to-day, but to the richest
+and most populous of the colonies. This position Virginia maintained
+until after the Revolutionary War, and not only the present West
+Virginia but the great Northwest Territory were included in her domain.
+
+[Footnote 1: Hening: _Statutes_, II, 170.]
+
+The slave had none of the ordinary rights of citizenship; in a criminal
+case he could be arrested, tried, and condemned with but one witness
+against him, and he could be sentenced without a jury. In Virginia
+in 1630 one Hugh Davis was ordered to be "soundly whipped before an
+assembly of Negroes and others, for abusing himself to the dishonor of
+God and the shame of Christians, by defiling his body in lying with a
+Negro."[1] Just ten years afterwards, in 1640, one Robert Sweet was
+ordered "to do penance in church, according to the laws of England, for
+getting a Negro woman with child, and the woman to be whipped."[2] Thus
+from the very beginning the intermixture of the races was frowned upon
+and went on all the same. By the time, moreover, that the important acts
+of 1661 and 1662 had formally sanctioned slavery, doubt had arisen
+in the minds of some Virginians as to whether one Christian could
+legitimately hold another in bondage; and in 1667 it was definitely
+stated that the conferring of baptism did not alter the condition of a
+person as to his bondage or freedom, so that masters, freed from
+this doubt, could now "more carefully endeavor the propagation of
+Christianity." In 1669 an "act about the casual killing of slaves"
+provided that if any slave resisted his master and under the extremity
+of punishment chanced to die, his death was not to be considered a
+felony and the master was to be acquitted. In 1670 it was made clear
+that none but freeholders and housekeepers should vote in the election
+of burgesses, and in the same year provision was taken against the
+possible ownership of a white servant by a free Negro, who nevertheless
+"was not debarred from buying any of his own nation." In 1692 there
+was legislation "for the more speedy prosecution of slaves committing
+capital crimes"; and this was reënacted in 1705, when some provision was
+made for the compensation of owners and when it was further declared
+that Negro, mulatto, and Indian slaves within the dominion were "real
+estate" and "incapable in law to be witnesses in any cases whatsoever";
+and in 1723 there was an elaborate and detailed act "directing the
+trial of slaves committing capital crimes, and for the more effectual
+punishing conspiracies and insurrections of them, and for the better
+government of Negroes, mulattoes, and Indians, bond or free." This
+last act specifically stated that no slave should be set free upon
+any pretense whatsoever "except for some meritorious services, to be
+adjudged and allowed by the governor and council." All this legislation
+was soon found to be too drastic and too difficult to enforce, and
+modification was inevitable. This came in 1732, when it was made
+possible for a slave to be a witness when another slave was on trial
+for a capital offense, and in 1744 this provision was extended to civil
+cases as well. In 1748 there was a general revision of all existing
+legislation, with special provision against attempted insurrections.
+
+[Footnote 1: Hening: _Statutes_, I, 146.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., I, 552.]
+
+Thus did Virginia pave the way, and more and more slave codes took on
+some degree of definiteness and uniformity. Very important was the
+act of 1705, which provided that a slave might be inventoried as real
+estate. As property henceforth there was nothing to prevent his being
+separated from his family. Before the law he was no longer a person but
+a thing.
+
+
+2. 737 _The Indian, the Mulatto, and the Free Negro_
+
+All along, it is to be observed, the problem of the Negro was
+complicated by that of the Indian. At first there was a feeling that
+Indians were to be treated not as Negroes but as on the same basis as
+Englishmen. An act in Virginia of 1661-2 summed up this feeling in the
+provision that they were not to be sold as servants for any longer time
+than English people of the same age, and injuries done to them were to
+be duly remedied by the laws of England. About the same time a Powhatan
+Indian sold for life was ordered to be set free. An interesting
+enactment of 1670 attempted to give the Indian an intermediate status
+between that of the Englishman and the Negro slave, as "servants not
+being Christians, imported into the colony by shipping" (i.e., Negroes)
+were to be slaves for their lives, but those that came by land were to
+serve "if boys or girls until thirty years of age; if men or women,
+twelve years and no longer." All such legislation, however, was
+radically changed as a result of Nathaniel Bacon's rebellion of 1676, in
+which the aid of the natives was invoked against the English governor.
+Henceforth Indians taken in war became the slaves for life of their
+captors. An elaborate act of 1682 summed up the new status, and Indians
+sold by other Indians were to be "adjudged, deemed, and taken to be
+slaves, to all intents and purposes, any law, usage, or custom to the
+contrary notwithstanding." Indian women were to be "tithables,"[1] and
+they were required to pay levies just as Negro women. From this time
+forth enactments generally included Indians along with Negroes, but of
+course the laws placed on the statute books did not always bear close
+relation to what was actually enforced, and in general the Indian was
+destined to be a vanishing rather than a growing problem. Very early in
+the eighteenth century, in connection with the wars between the English
+and the Spanish in Florida, hundreds of Indians were shipped to the West
+Indies and some to New England. Massachusetts in 1712 prohibited
+such importation, as the Indians were "malicious, surly, and very
+ungovernable," and she was followed to similar effect by Pennsylvania in
+1712, by New Hampshire in 1714, and by Connecticut and Rhode Island in
+1715.
+
+[Footnote 1: Hurd, commenting on an act of 1649 declaring all imported
+male servants to be tithables, speaks as follows (230): "_Tithables_
+were persons assessed for a poll-tax, otherwise called the 'county
+levies.' At first, only free white persons were tithable. The law of
+1645 provided for a tax on property and tithable persons. By 1648
+property was released and taxes levied only on the tithables, at
+a specified poll-tax. Therefore by classing servants or slaves as
+tithables, the law attributes to them legal personality, or a membership
+in the social state inconsistent with the condition of a chattel or
+property."]
+
+If the Indian was destined to be a vanishing factor, the mulatto and the
+free Negro most certainly were not. In spite of all the laws to prevent
+it, the intermixture of the races increased, and manumission somehow
+also increased. Sometimes a master in his will provided that several of
+his slaves should be given their freedom. Occasionally a slave became
+free by reason of what was regarded as an act of service to the
+commonwealth, as in the case of one Will, slave belonging to Robert
+Ruffin, of the county of Surry in Virginia, who in 1710 divulged a
+conspiracy.[1] There is, moreover, on record a case of an indentured
+Negro servant, John Geaween, who by his unusual thrift in the matter of
+some hogs which he raised on the share system with his master, was able
+as early as 1641 to purchase his own son from another master, to the
+perfect satisfaction of all concerned.[2] Of special importance for
+some years were those persons who were descendants of Negro fathers and
+indentured white mothers, and who at first were of course legally free.
+By 1691 the problem had become acute in Virginia. In this year "for
+prevention of that abominable mixture and spurious issue, which
+hereafter may increase in this dominion, as well by Negroes, mulattoes
+and Indians intermarrying with English or other white women, as by their
+unlawful accompanying with one another," it was enacted that "for the
+time to come whatsoever English or other white man or woman being free
+shall intermarry with a Negro, mulatto, or Indian man or woman, bond
+or free, shall within three months after such marriage be banished
+and removed from this dominion forever, and that the justices of each
+respective county within this dominion make it their particular care
+that this act be put in effectual execution."[3] A white woman who
+became the mother of a child by a Negro or mulatto was to be fined £15
+sterling, in default of payment was to be sold for five years, while the
+child was to be bound in servitude to the church wardens until thirty
+years of age. It was further provided that if any Negro or mulatto was
+set free, he was to be transported from the country within six months
+of his manumission (which enactment is typical of those that it was
+difficult to enforce and that after a while were only irregularly
+observed). In 1705 it was enacted that no "Negro, mulatto, or Indian
+shall from and after the publication of this act bear any office
+ecclesiastical, civil or military, or be in any place of public trust or
+power, within this her majesty's colony and dominion of Virginia"; and
+to clear any doubt that might arise as to who should be accounted a
+mulatto, it was provided that "the child of an Indian, and the child,
+grandchild, or great-grandchild of a Negro shall be deemed, accounted,
+held, and taken to be a mulatto." It will be observed that while the act
+of 1670 said that "none but freeholders and housekeepers" could vote,
+this act of 1705 did not specifically legislate against voting by a
+mulatto or a free Negro, and that some such privilege was exercised for
+a while appears from the definite provision in 1723 that "no free Negro,
+mulatto, or Indian, whatsoever, shall hereafter have any vote at the
+election of burgesses, or any other election whatsoever." In the same
+year it was provided that free Negroes and mulattoes might be employed
+as drummers or trumpeters in servile labor, but that they were not to
+bear arms; and all free Negroes above sixteen years of age were declared
+tithable. In 1769, however, all free Negro and mulatto women were
+exempted from levies as tithables, such levies having proved to be
+burdensome and "derogatory to the rights of freeborn subjects."
+
+[Footnote 1: Hening: _Statutes_, III, 537.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Virginia Magazine of History_, X, 281.]
+
+[Footnote 3: The penalty was so ineffective that in 1705 it was changed
+simply to imprisonment for six months "without bail or mainprise."]
+
+More than other colonies Maryland seems to have been troubled about the
+intermixture of the races; certainly no other phase of slavery here
+received so much attention. This was due to the unusual emphasis on
+white servitude in the colony. In 1663 it was enacted that any freeborn
+woman intermarrying with a slave should serve the master of the slave
+during the life of her husband and that any children resulting from
+the union were also to be slaves. This act was evidently intended to
+frighten the indentured woman from such a marriage. It had a very
+different effect. Many masters, in order to prolong the indenture of
+their white female servants, encouraged them to marry Negro slaves.
+Accordingly a new law in 1681 threw the responsibility not on the
+indentured woman but on the master or mistress; in case a marriage took
+place between a white woman-servant and a slave, the woman was to be
+free at once, any possible issue was to be free, and the minister
+performing the ceremony and the master or mistress were to be fined ten
+thousand pounds of tobacco. This did not finally dispose of the problem,
+however, and in 1715, in response to a slightly different situation, it
+was enacted that a white woman who became the mother of a child by a
+free Negro father should become a servant for seven years, the father
+also a servant for seven years, and the child a servant until thirty-one
+years of age. Any white man who begot a Negro woman with child, whether
+a free woman or a slave, was to undergo the same penalty as a white
+woman--a provision that in course of time was notoriously disregarded.
+In 1717 the problem was still unsettled, and in this year it was enacted
+that Negroes or mulattoes of either sex intermarrying with white people
+were to be slaves for life, except mulattoes born of white women, who
+were to serve for seven years, and the white person so intermarrying
+also for seven years. It is needless to say that with all these changing
+and contradictory provisions many servants and Negroes did not even
+know what the law was. In 1728, however, free mulatto women having
+illegitimate children by Negroes and other slaves, and free Negro
+women having illegitimate children by white men, and their issue, were
+subjected to the same penalties as in the former act were provided
+against white women. Thus vainly did the colony of Maryland struggle
+with the problem of race intermixture. Generally throughout the South
+the rule in the matter of the child of the Negro father and the
+indentured white mother was that the child should be bound in servitude
+for thirty or thirty-one years.
+
+In the North as well as in the South the intermingling of the blood of
+the races was discountenanced. In Pennsylvania as early as 1677 a white
+servant was indicted for cohabiting with a Negro. In 1698 the Chester
+County court laid it down as a principle that the mingling of the races
+was not to be allowed. In 1722 a woman was punished for promoting a
+secret marriage between a white woman and a Negro; a little later the
+Assembly received from the inhabitants of the province a petition
+inveighing against cohabiting; and in 1725-6 a law was passed positively
+forbidding the mixture of the races.[1] In Massachusetts as early as
+1705 and 1708 restraining acts to prevent a "spurious and mixt issue"
+ordered the sale of offending Negroes and mulattoes out of the colony's
+jurisdiction, and punished Christians who intermarried with them by a
+fine of £50. After the Revolutionary War such marriages were declared
+void and the penalty of £50 was still exacted, and not until 1843 was
+this act repealed. Thus was the color-line, with its social and legal
+distinctions, extended beyond the conditions of servitude and slavery,
+and thus early was an important phase of the ultimate Negro Problem
+foreshadowed.
+
+[Footnote 1: Turner: _The Negro in Pennsylvania_, 29-30.]
+
+Generally then, in the South, in the colonial period, the free Negro
+could not vote, could not hold civil office, could not give testimony in
+cases involving white men, and could be employed only for fatigue
+duty in the militia. He could not purchase white servants, could not
+intermarry with white people, and had to be very circumspect in his
+relations with slaves. No deprivation of privilege, however, relieved
+him of the obligation to pay taxes. Such advantages as he possessed were
+mainly economic. The money gained from his labor was his own; he might
+become skilled at a trade; he might buy land; he might buy slaves;[1] he
+might even buy his wife and child if, as most frequently happened,
+they were slaves; and he might have one gun with which to protect his
+home.[2] Once in a long while he might even find some opportunity
+for education, as when the church became the legal warden of Negro
+apprentices. Frequently he found a place in such a trade as that of
+the barber or in other personal service, and such work accounted very
+largely for the fact that he was generally permitted to remain in
+communities where technically he had no right to be. In the North his
+situation was little better than in the South, and along economic lines
+even harder. Everywhere his position was a difficult one. He was most
+frequently regarded as idle and shiftless, and as a breeder of mischief;
+but if he showed unusual thrift he might even be forced to leave his
+home and go elsewhere. Liberty, the boon of every citizen, the free
+Negro did not possess. For all the finer things of life--the things that
+make life worth living--the lot that was his was only less hard than
+that of the slave.
+
+[Footnote 1: Russell: _The Free Negro in Virginia_, 32-33, cites from
+the court records of Northampton County, 1651-1654 and 1655-1658, the
+noteworthy case of a free negro, Anthony Johnson, who had come to
+Virginia not later than 1622 and who by 1650 owned a large tract of land
+on the Eastern Shore. To him belonged a Negro, John Casor. After several
+years of labor Casor demanded his freedom on the ground that from the
+first he had been an indentured servant and not a slave. When the case
+came up in court, however, not only did Johnson win the verdict that
+Casor was his slave, but he also won his suit against Robert Parker, a
+white man, who he asserted had illegally detained Casor.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Hening: _Statutes_, IV, 131.]
+
+
+3. _First Effort for Social Betterment_
+
+If now we turn aside from laws and statutes and consider the ordinary
+life and social intercourse of the Negro, we shall find more than one
+contradiction, for in the colonial era codes affecting slaves and free
+Negroes had to grope their way to uniformity. Especially is it necessary
+to distinguish between the earlier and the later years of the period,
+for as early as 1760 the liberalism of the Revolutionary era began to be
+felt. If we consider what was strictly the colonial epoch, we may find
+it necessary to make a division about the year 1705. Before this date
+the status of the Negro was complicated by the incidents of the system
+of servitude; after it, however, in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and
+Massachusetts alike, special discrimination against him on account of
+race was given formal recognition.
+
+By 1715 there were in Virginia 23,000 Negroes, and in all the colonies
+58,850, or 14 per cent of the total population.[1] By 1756, however,
+the Negroes in Virginia numbered 120,156 and the white people but
+173,316.[2] Thirty-eight of the forty-nine counties had more Negro than
+white tithables, and eleven of the counties had a Negro population
+varying from one-fourth to one-half more than the white. A great many of
+the Negroes had only recently been imported from Africa, and they were
+especially baffling to their masters of course when they conversed in
+their native tongues. At first only men were brought, but soon women
+came also, and the treatment accorded these people varied all the way
+from occasional indulgence to the utmost cruelty. The hours of work
+regularly extended from sunrise to sunset, though corn-husking and
+rice-beating were sometimes continued after dark, and overseers were
+almost invariably ruthless, often having a share in the crops. Those who
+were house-servants would go about only partially clad, and the slave
+might be marked or branded like one of the lower animals; he was not
+thought to have a soul, and the law sought to deprive him of all human
+attributes. Holiday amusement consisted largely of the dances that the
+Negroes had brought with them, these being accompanied by the beating of
+drums and the blowing of horns; and funeral ceremonies featured African
+mummeries. For those who were criminal offenders simple execution was
+not always considered severe enough; the right hand might first be
+amputated, the criminal then hanged and his head cut off, and his body
+quartered and the parts suspended in public places. Sometimes the
+hanging was in chains, and several instances of burning are on record.
+A master was regularly reimbursed by the government for a slave legally
+executed, and in 1714 there was a complaint in South Carolina that
+the treasury had become almost exhausted by such reimbursements. In
+Massachusetts hanging was the worst legal penalty, but the obsolete
+common-law punishment was revived in 1755 to burn alive a slave-woman
+who had killed her master in Cambridge.[3]
+
+[Footnote 1: Blake: _History of Slavery and the Slave-Trade_, 378.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Ballagh: _Slavery in Virginia_, 12.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Edward Eggleston: "Social Conditions in the Colonies," in
+_Century Magazine_, October, 1884, p. 863.]
+
+The relations between the free Negro and the slave might well have given
+cause for concern. Above what was after all only an artificial barrier
+spoke the call of race and frequently of kindred. Sometimes at a later
+date jealousy arose when a master employed a free Negro to work with
+his slaves, the one receiving pay and the others laboring without
+compensation. In general, however, the two groups worked like brothers,
+each giving the other the benefit of any temporary advantage that it
+possessed. Sometimes the free Negro could serve by reason of the greater
+freedom of movement that he had, and if no one would employ him, or if,
+as frequently happened, he was browbeaten and cheated out of the reward
+of his labor, the slave might somehow see that he got something to eat.
+In a state of society in which the relation of master and slave was the
+rule, there was of course little place for either the free Negro or the
+poor white man. When the pressure became too great the white man moved
+away; the Negro, finding himself everywhere buffeted, in the colonial
+era at least had little choice but to work out his salvation at home as
+well as he could. More and more character told, and if a man had made
+himself known for his industry and usefulness, a legislative act might
+even be passed permitting him to remain in the face of a hostile law.
+Even before 1700 there were in Virginia families in which both parents
+were free colored persons and in which every effort was made to bring up
+the children in honesty and morality. When some prosperous Negroes found
+themselves able to do so, they occasionally purchased Negroes, who might
+be their own children or brothers, in order to give them that protection
+without which on account of recent manumission they might be required to
+leave the colony in which they were born. Thus, whatever the motive, the
+tie that bound the free Negro and the slave was a strong one; and in
+spite of the fact that Negroes who owned slaves were generally known
+as hard masters, as soon as any men of the race began to be really
+prominent their best endeavor was devoted to the advancement of their
+people. It was not until immediately after the Revolutionary War,
+however, that leaders of vision and statesmanship began to be developed.
+
+It was only the materialism of the eighteenth century that accounted for
+the amazing development of the system of Negro slavery, and only this
+that defeated the benevolence of Oglethorpe's scheme for the founding
+of Georgia. As yet there was no united protest--no general movement for
+freedom; and as Von Holst said long afterwards, "If the agitation had
+been wholly left to the churches, it would have been long before men
+could have rightly spoken of 'a slavery question.'" The Puritans,
+however, were not wholly unmindful of the evil, and the Quakers were
+untiring in their opposition, though it was Roger Williams who in 1637
+made the first protest that appears in the colonies.[1] Both John Eliot
+and Cotton Mather were somewhat generally concerned about the harsh
+treatment of the Negro and the neglect of his spiritual welfare.
+Somewhat more to the point was Richard Baxter, the eminent English
+nonconformist, who was a contemporary of both of these men. "Remember,"
+said he, in speaking of Negroes and other slaves, "that they are of as
+good a kind as you; that is, they are reasonable creatures as well as
+you, and born to as much natural liberty. If their sin have enslaved
+them to you, yet Nature made them your equals." On the subject of
+man-stealing he is even stronger: "To go as pirates and catch up poor
+Negroes or people of another land, that never forfeited life or liberty,
+and to make them slaves, and sell them, is one of the worst kinds of
+thievery in the world." Such statements, however, were not more than the
+voice of individual opinion. The principles of the Quakers carried them
+far beyond the Puritans, and their history shows what might have been
+accomplished if other denominations had been as sincere and as unselfish
+as the Society of Friends. The Germantown protest of 1688 has already
+been remarked. In 1693 George Keith, in speaking of fugitives, quoted
+with telling effect the text, "Thou shalt not deliver unto his master
+the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee" (Deut. 23.15).
+In 1696 the Yearly Meeting in Pennsylvania first took definite action
+in giving as its advice "that Friends be careful not to encourage the
+bringing in of any more Negroes; and that such that have Negroes, be
+careful of them, bring them to meetings, have meetings with them in
+their families, and restrain them from loose and lewd living as much as
+in them lies, and from rambling abroad on First-days or other times."[2]
+As early as 1713 the Quakers had in mind a scheme for freeing the
+Negroes and returning them to Africa, and by 1715 their efforts
+against importation had seriously impaired the market for slaves
+in Philadelphia. Within a century after the Germantown protest the
+abolition of slavery among the Quakers was practically accomplished.
+
+[Footnote 1: For this and the references immediately following note
+Locke: _Anti-Slavery in America_, 11-45.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Brief Statement of the Rise and Progress of the
+Testimony of the Religious Society of Friends against Slavery and the
+Slave-Trade_, 8.]
+
+In the very early period there seems to have been little objection to
+giving a free Negro not only religious but also secular instruction;
+indeed he might be entitled to this, as in Virginia, where in 1691 the
+church became the agency through which the laws of Negro apprenticeship
+were carried out; thus in 1727 it was ordered that David James, a free
+Negro boy, be bound to Mr. James Isdel, who was to "teach him to read
+the Bible distinctly, also the trade of a gunsmith" and "carry him to
+the clerk's office and take indenture to that purpose."[1] In general
+the English church did a good deal to provide for the religious
+instruction of the free Negro; "the reports made in 1724 to the English
+bishop by the Virginia parish ministers are evidence that the few free
+Negroes in the parishes were permitted to be baptized, and were received
+into the church when they had been taught the catechism."[2] Among
+Negroes, moreover, as well as others in the colonies the Society for the
+Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts was active. As early as 1705,
+in Goose Creek Parish in South Carolina, among a population largely
+recently imported from Africa, a missionary had among his communicants
+twenty blacks who well understood the English tongue.[3] The most
+effective work of the Society, however, was in New York, where as early
+as 1704 a school was opened by Elias Neau, a Frenchman who after several
+years of imprisonment because of his Protestant faith had come to New
+York to try his fortune as a trader. In 1703 he had called the attention
+of the Society to the Negroes who were "without God in the world, and of
+whose souls there was no manner of care taken," and had suggested the
+appointment of a catechist. He himself was prevailed upon to take up the
+work and he accordingly resigned his position as an elder in the French
+church and conformed to the Church of England. He worked with success
+for a number of years, but in 1712 was embarrassed by the charge that
+his school fomented the insurrection that was planned in that year. He
+finally showed, however, that only one of his students was in any way
+connected with the uprising.
+
+[Footnote 1: Russell: _The Free Negro in Virginia_, 138-9.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., 138.]
+
+[Footnote 3: C.E. Pierre, in _Journal of Negro History_, October, 1916,
+p. 350.]
+
+From slave advertisements of the eighteenth century[1] we may gain many
+sidelights not only on the education of Negroes in the colonial era,
+but on their environment and suffering as well. One slave "can write a
+pretty good hand; plays on the fife extremely well." Another "can both
+read and write and is a good fiddler." Still others speak "Dutch and
+good English," "good English and High Dutch," or "Swede and English
+well." Charles Thomas of Delaware bore the following remarkable
+characterization: "Very black, has white teeth ... has had his left leg
+broke ... speaks both French and English, and is a very great rogue."
+One man who came from the West Indies "was born in Dominica and speaks
+French, but very little English; he is a very ill-natured fellow and has
+been much cut in his back by often whipping." A Negro named Simon who in
+1740 ran away in Pennsylvania "could bleed and draw teeth pretending to
+be a great doctor." Worst of all the incidents of slavery, however, was
+the lack of regard for home ties, and this situation of course obtained
+in the North as well as the South. In the early part of the eighteenth
+century marriages in New York were by mutual consent only, without the
+blessing of the church, and burial was in a common field without any
+Christian office. In Massachusetts in 1710 Rev. Samuel Phillips drew up
+a marriage formulary especially designed for slaves and concluding as
+follows: "For you must both of you bear in mind that you remain still,
+as really and truly as ever, your master's property, and therefore
+it will be justly expected, both by God and man, that you behave
+and conduct yourselves as obedient and faithful servants."[2] In
+Massachusetts, however, as in New York, marriage was most often by
+common consent simply, without the office of ministers.
+
+[Footnote 1: See documents, "Eighteenth Century Slave Advertisements,"
+_Journal of Negro History_, April, 1916, 163-216.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Quoted from Williams: Centennial Oration, "The American
+Negro from 1776 to 1876," 10.]
+
+As yet there was no racial consciousness, no church, no business
+organization, and the chief coöperative effort was in insurrection.
+Until the great chain of slavery was thrown off, little independent
+effort could be put forth. Even in the state of servitude or slavery,
+however, the social spirit of the race yearned to assert itself, and
+such an event as a funeral was attractive primarily because of the
+social features that it developed. As early as 1693 there is record of
+the formation of a distinct society by Negroes. In one of his manuscript
+diaries, preserved in the library of the Massachusetts Historical
+Society,[1] Cotton Mather in October of this year wrote as follows:
+"Besides the other praying and pious meetings which I have been
+continually serving in our neighborhood, a little after this period
+a company of poor Negroes, of their own accord, addressed me, for my
+countenance to a design which they had, of erecting such a meeting for
+the welfare of their miserable nation, that were servants among us. I
+allowed their design and went one evening and prayed and preached (on
+Ps. 68.31) with them; and gave them the following orders, which I insert
+duly for the curiosity of the occasion." The Rules to which Mather here
+refers are noteworthy as containing not one suggestion of anti-slavery
+sentiment, and as portraying the altogether abject situation of the
+Negro at the time he wrote; nevertheless the text used was an inspiring
+one, and in any case the document must have historical importance as
+the earliest thing that has come down to us in the nature of the
+constitution or by-laws for a distinctively Negro organization. It is
+herewith given entire:
+
+    Rules for the Society of Negroes. 1693.
+
+    We the Miserable Children of Adam, and of Noah, thankfully Admiring
+    and Accepting the Free-Grace of GOD, that Offers to Save us from our
+    Miseries, by the Lord Jesus Christ, freely Resolve, with His Help,
+    to become the Servants of that Glorious LORD.
+
+    And that we may be Assisted in the Service of our Heavenly Master,
+    we now join together in a SOCIETY, wherein the following RULES are
+    to be observed.
+
+    I. It shall be our Endeavor, to Meet in the _Evening_ after the
+    _Sabbath_; and Pray together by Turns, one to Begin, and another to
+    Conclude the Meeting; And between the two _Prayers_, a _Psalm_ shall
+    be sung, and a _Sermon_ Repeated.
+
+    II. Our coming to the Meeting, shall never be without the _Leave_ of
+    such as have Power over us: And we will be Careful, that our Meeting
+    may Begin and Conclude between the Hours of _Seven_ and _Nine_; and
+    that we may not be _unseasonably Absent_ from the Families whereto
+    we pertain.
+
+    III. As we will, with the help of God, at all Times avoid all
+    _Wicked Company_, so we will Receive none into our Meeting, but
+    such as have sensibly _Reformed_ their lives from all manner of
+    Wickedness. And, therefore, None shall be Admitted, without the
+    Knowledge and Consent of the _Minister_ of God in this place; unto
+    whom we will also carry every Person, that seeks for _Admission_
+    among us; to be by Him Examined, Instructed and Exhorted.
+
+    IV. We will, as often as may be, Obtain some Wise and Good Man, of
+    the English in the Neighborhood, and especially the Officers of the
+    Church, to look in upon us, and by their Presence and Counsel, do
+    what they think fitting for us.
+
+    V. If any of our Number fall into the Sin of _Drunkenness_, or
+    _Swearing_, or _Cursing_, or _Lying_, or _Stealing_, or notorious
+    _Disobedience_ or _Unfaithfulness_ unto their Masters, we will
+    Admonish him of his Miscarriage, and Forbid his coming to the
+    Meeting, for at least _one Fortnight_; And except he then come with
+    great Signs and Hopes of his _Repentance_, we will utterly Exclude
+    him, with Blotting his _Name_ out of our list.
+
+    VI. If any of our Society Defile himself with _Fornication_, we will
+    give him our _Admonition_; and so, debar him from the Meeting, at
+    least half a Year: Nor shall he Return to it, ever any more, without
+    Exemplary Testimonies of his becoming a _New Creature_.
+
+    VII. We will, as we have Opportunity, set ourselves to do all the
+    Good we can, to the other _Negro-Servants_ in the Town; And if any
+    of them should, at unfit Hours, be _Abroad_, much more, if any of
+    them should _Run away_ from their Masters, we will afford them
+    _no Shelter_: But we will do what in us lies, that they may be
+    discovered, and punished. And if any of _us_ are found Faulty in
+    this matter, they shall be no longer of _us_.
+
+    VIII. None of our Society shall be _Absent_ from our Meeting,
+    without giving a Reason of the Absence; and if it be found, that any
+    have pretended unto their _Owners_, that they came unto the Meeting,
+    when they were otherwise and elsewhere Employed, we will faithfully
+    _Inform_ their Owners, and also do what we can to Reclaim such
+    Person from all such Evil Courses for the Future:
+
+    IX. It shall be expected from every one in the Society, that he
+    learn the Catechism; And therefore, it shall be one of our usual
+    Exercises, for one of us, to ask the _Questions_, and for all the
+    rest in their Order, to say the _Answers_ in the Catechism; Either,
+    The _New English_ Catechism, or the _Assemblies_ Catechism, or the
+    Catechism in the _Negro Christianised_.
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Rules for the Society of Negroes_, 1693, by Cotton
+Mather, reprinted, New York, 1888, by George H. Moore.]
+
+
+4. Early Insurrections
+
+The Negroes who came to America directly from Africa in the eighteenth
+century were strikingly different from those whom generations of
+servitude later made comparatively docile. They were wild and turbulent
+in disposition and were likely at any moment to take revenge for the
+great wrong that had been inflicted upon them. The planters in the South
+knew this and lived in constant fear of uprisings. When the situation
+became too threatening, they placed prohibitive duties on importations,
+and they also sought to keep their slaves in subjection by barbarous and
+cruel modes of punishment, both crucifixion and burning being legalized
+in some early codes. On sea as well as on land Negroes frequently rose
+upon those who held them in bondage, and sometimes they actually
+won their freedom. More and more, however, in any study of Negro
+insurrections it becomes difficult to distinguish between a clearly
+organized revolt and what might be regarded as simply a personal crime,
+so that those uprisings considered in the following discussion can only
+be construed as the more representative of the many attempts for freedom
+made by Negro slaves in the colonial era.
+
+In 1687 there was in Virginia a conspiracy among the Negroes in the
+Northern Neck that was detected just in time to prevent slaughter, and
+in Surry County in 1710 there was a similar plot, betrayed by one of the
+conspirators. In 1711, in South Carolina, several Negroes ran away from
+their masters and "kept out, armed, robbing and plundering houses and
+plantations, and putting the inhabitants of the province in great
+fear and terror";[1] and Governor Gibbes more than once wrote to the
+legislature about amending the Negro Act, as the one already in
+force did "not reach up to some of the crimes" that were daily being
+committed. For one Sebastian, "a Spanish Negro," alive or dead, a reward
+of £50 was offered, and he was at length brought in by the Indians and
+taken in triumph to Charleston. In 1712 in New York occurred an outbreak
+that occasioned greater excitement than any uprising that had preceded
+it in the colonies. Early in the morning of April 7 some slaves of the
+Carmantee and Pappa tribes who had suffered ill-usage, set on fire the
+house of Peter van Tilburgh, and, armed with guns and knives, killed and
+wounded several persons who came to extinguish the flames. They fled,
+however, when the Governor ordered the cannon to be fired to alarm the
+town, and they got away to the woods as well as they could, but
+not before they had killed several more of the citizens. Some shot
+themselves in the woods and others were captured. Altogether eight or
+ten white persons were killed, and, aside from those Negroes who had
+committed suicide, eighteen or more were executed, several others being
+transported. Of those executed one was hanged alive in chains, some were
+burned at the stake, and one was left to die a lingering death before
+the gaze of the town.
+
+[Footnote 1: Holland: _A Refutation of Calumnies_, 63.]
+
+In May, 1720, some Negroes in South Carolina were fairly well organized
+and killed a man named Benjamin Cattle, one white woman, and a little
+Negro boy. They were pursued and twenty-three taken and six convicted.
+Three of the latter were executed, the other three escaping. In October,
+1722, the Negroes near the mouth of the Rappahannock in Virginia
+undertook to kill the white people while the latter were assembled in
+church, but were discovered and put to flight. On this occasion, as on
+most others, Sunday was the day chosen for the outbreak, the Negroes
+then being best able to get together. In April, 1723, it was thought
+that some fires in Boston had been started by Negroes, and the selectmen
+recommended that if more than two Negroes were found "lurking together"
+on the streets they should be put in the house of correction. In 1728
+there was a well organized attempt in Savannah, then a place of three
+thousand white people and two thousand seven hundred Negroes. The plan
+to kill all the white people failed because of disagreement as to the
+exact method; but the body of Negroes had to be, fired on more than
+once before it dispersed. In 1730 there was in Williamsburg, Va., an
+insurrection that grew out of a report that Colonel Spotswood had orders
+from the king to free all baptized persons on his arrival; men from all
+the surrounding counties had to be called in before it could be put
+down.
+
+The first open rebellion in South Carolina in which Negroes were
+"actually armed and embodied"[1] took place in 1730. The plan was for
+each Negro to kill his master in the dead of night, then for all to
+assemble supposedly for a dancing-bout, rush upon the heart of the city,
+take possession of the arms, and kill any white man they saw. The plot
+was discovered and the leaders executed. In this same colony three
+formidable insurrections broke out within the one year 1739--one in St.
+Paul's Parish, one in St. John's, and one in Charleston. To some extent
+these seem to have been fomented by the Spaniards in the South, and in
+one of them six houses were burned and as many as twenty-five white
+people killed. The Negroes were pursued and fourteen killed. Within two
+days "twenty more were killed, and forty were taken, some of whom
+were shot, some hanged, and some gibbeted alive."[2] This "examplary
+punishment," as Governor Gibbes called it, was by no means effective,
+for in the very next year, 1740, there broke out what might be
+considered the most formidable insurrection in the South in the whole
+colonial period. A number of Negroes, having assembled at Stono, first
+surprised, and killed two young men in a warehouse, from which they then
+took guns and ammunition.[3] They then elected as captain one of their
+own number named Cato, whom they agreed to follow, and they marched
+towards the southwest, with drums beating and colors flying, like a
+disciplined company. They entered the home of a man named Godfrey, and
+having murdered him and his wife and children, they took all the arms he
+had, set fire to the house, and proceeded towards Jonesboro. On their
+way they plundered and burned every house to which they came, killing
+every white person they found and compelling the Negroes to join them.
+Governor Bull, who happened to be returning to Charleston from the
+southward, met them, and observing them armed, spread the alarm, which
+soon reached the Presbyterian Church at Wilton, where a number of
+planters was assembled. The women were left in the church trembling with
+fear, while the militia formed and marched in quest of the Negroes, who
+by this time had become formidable from the number that had joined them.
+They had marched twelve miles and spread desolation through all the
+plantations on their way. They had then halted in an open field and too
+soon had begun to sing and drink and dance by way of triumph. During
+these rejoicings the militia discovered them and stationed themselves
+in different places around them to prevent their escape. One party then
+advanced into the open field and attacked the Negroes. Some were
+killed and the others were forced to the woods. Many ran back to the
+plantations, hoping thus to avoid suspicion, but most of them were taken
+and tried. Such as had been forced to join the uprising against their
+will were pardoned, but all of the chosen leaders and the first
+insurgents were put to death. All Carolina, we are told, was struck with
+terror and consternation by this insurrection, in which more than twenty
+white persons were killed. It was followed immediately by the famous and
+severe Negro Act of 1740, which among other provisions imposed a duty of
+£100 on Africans and £150 on colonial Negroes. This remained technically
+in force until 1822, and yet as soon as security and confidence were
+restored, there was a relaxation in the execution of the provisions
+of the act and the Negroes little by little regained confidence in
+themselves and again began to plan and act in concert.
+
+[Footnote 1: Holland: _A Refutation of Calumnies_, 68.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Coffin.]
+
+[Footnote 3: The following account follows mainly Holland, quoting
+Hewitt.]
+
+About the time of Cato's insurrection there were also several uprisings
+at sea. In 1731, on a ship returning to Rhode Island from Guinea with a
+cargo of slaves, the Negroes rose and killed three of the crew, all the
+members of which died soon afterwards with the exception of the captain
+and his boy. The next year Captain John Major of Portsmouth, N.H., was
+murdered with all his crew, his schooner and cargo being seized by the
+slaves. In 1735 the captives on the _Dolphin_ of London, while still on
+the coast of Africa, overpowered the crew, broke into the powder room,
+and finally in the course of their effort for freedom blew up both
+themselves and the crew.
+
+A most remarkable design--as an insurrection perhaps not as formidable
+as that of Cato, but in some ways the most important single event in the
+history of the Negro in the colonial period--was the plot in the city
+of New York in 1741. New York was at the time a thriving town of
+twelve thousand inhabitants, and the calamity that now befell it was
+unfortunate in every way. It was not only a Negro insurrection, though
+the Negro finally suffered most bitterly. It was also a strange compound
+of the effects of whiskey and gambling, of the designs of abandoned
+white people, and of prejudice against the Catholics.
+
+Prominent in the remarkable drama were John Hughson, a shoemaker and
+alehouse keeper; Sarah Hughson, his wife; John Romme, also a shoemaker
+and alehouse keeper; Margaret Kerry, alias Salinburgh, commonly known
+as Peggy; John Ury, a priest; and a number of Negroes, chief among whom
+were Cæsar, Prince, Cuffee, and Quack.[1] Prominent among those who
+helped to work out the plot were Mary Burton, a white servant of
+Hughson's, sixteen years of age; Arthur Price, a young white man who
+at the time of the proceedings happened to be in prison on a charge of
+stealing; a young seaman named Wilson; and two white women, Mrs. Earle
+and Mrs. Hogg, the latter of whom assisted in the store kept by her
+husband, Robert Hogg. Hughson's house on the outskirts of the town was a
+resort for Negroes, and Hughson himself aided and abetted the Negro men
+in any crime that they might commit. Romme was of similar quality. Peggy
+was a prostitute, and it was Cæsar who paid for her board with the
+Hughsons. In the previous summer she had found lodging with these
+people, a little later she had removed to Romme's, and just before
+Christmas she had come back to Hughson's, and a few weeks thereafter she
+became a mother. At both the public houses the Negroes would engage in
+drinking and gambling; and importance also attaches to an organization
+of theirs known as the Geneva Society, which had angered some of the
+white citizens by its imitation of the rites and forms of freemasonry.
+
+[Footnote 1: The sole authority on the plot is "A Journal of the
+Proceedings in the Detection of the Conspiracy formed by Some White
+People, in Conjunction with Negro and other Slaves, for Burning the City
+of New York in America, and Murdering the Inhabitants (by Judge Daniel
+Horsemanden). New York, 1744."]
+
+Events really began on the night of Saturday, February 28, 1741, with
+a robbery in the house of Hogg, the merchant, from which were taken
+various pieces of linen and other goods, several silver coins, chiefly
+Spanish, and medals, to the value of about £60. On the day before, in
+the course of a simple purchase by Wilson, Mrs. Hogg had revealed to the
+young seaman her treasure. He soon spoke of the same to Cæsar, Prince,
+and Cuffee, with whom he was acquainted; he gave them the plan of the
+house, and they in turn spoke of the matter to Hughson. Wilson, however,
+when later told of the robbery by Mrs. Hogg, at once turned suspicion
+upon the Negroes, especially Cæsar; and Mary Burton testified that she
+saw some of the speckled linen in question in Peggy's room after Cæsar
+had gone thither.
+
+On Wednesday, March 18, a fire broke out on the roof of His Majesty's
+House at Fort George. One week later, on March 25, there was a fire at
+the home of Captain Warren in the southwest end of the city, and the
+circumstances pointed to incendiary origin. One week later, on April
+1, there was a fire in the storehouse of a man named Van Zant; on the
+following Saturday evening there was another fire, and while the people
+were returning from this there was still another; and on the next day,
+Sunday, there was another alarm, and by this time the whole town had
+been worked up to the highest pitch of excitement. As yet there was
+nothing to point to any connection between the stealing and the fires.
+On the day of the last one, however, Mrs. Earle happened to overhear
+remarks by three Negroes that caused suspicion to light upon them; Mary
+Burton was insisting that stolen goods had been brought by Prince and
+Cæsar to the house of her master; and although a search of the home of
+Hughson failed to produce a great deal, arrests were made right and
+left. The case was finally taken to the Supreme Court, and because of
+the white persons implicated, the summary methods ordinarily used in
+dealing with Negroes were waived for the time being.
+
+Peggy at first withstood all questioning, denying any knowledge of the
+events that had taken place. One day in prison, however, she remarked
+to Arthur Price that she was afraid the Negroes would tell but that she
+would not forswear herself unless they brought her into the matter. "How
+forswear?" asked Price. "There are fourteen sworn," she said. "What,
+is it about Mr. Hogg's goods?" he asked. "No," she replied, "about the
+fire." "What, Peggy," asked Price, "were you going to set the town on
+fire?" "No," she replied, "but since I knew of it they made me swear."
+She also remarked that she had faith in Prince, Cuff, and Cæsar. All
+the while she used the vilest possible language, and at last, thinking
+suddenly that she had revealed too much, she turned upon Price and with
+an oath warned him that he had better keep his counsel. That afternoon
+she said further to him that she could not eat because Mary had brought
+her into the case.
+
+A little later Peggy, much afraid, voluntarily confessed that early in
+May she was at the home of John Romme, where in the course of December
+the Negroes had had several meetings; among other things they had
+conspired to burn the fort first of all, then the city, then to get all
+the goods they could and kill anybody who had money. One evening just
+about Christmas, she said, Romme and his wife and ten or eleven Negroes
+had been together in a room. Romme had talked about how rich some people
+were, gradually working on the feelings of the Negroes and promising
+them that if they did not succeed in their designs he would take them
+to a strange country and set them free, meanwhile giving them the
+impression that he bore a charmed life. A little later, it appeared,
+Cæsar gave to Hughson £12; Hughson was then absent for three days,
+and when he came again he brought with him seven or eight guns, some
+pistols, and some swords.
+
+As a result of these and other disclosures it was seen that not only
+Hughson and Romme but also Ury, who was not so much a priest as an
+adventurer, had instigated the plots of the Negroes; and Quack testified
+that Hughson was the first contriver of the plot to burn the houses of
+the town and kill the people, though he himself, he confessed, did fire
+the fort with a lighted stick. The punishment was terrible. Quack and
+Cuffee, the first to be executed, were burned at the stake on May
+30. All through the summer the trials and the executions continued,
+harassing New York and indeed the whole country. Altogether twenty white
+persons were arrested; four--Hughson, his wife, Peggy, and Ury--were
+executed, and some of their acquaintances were forced to leave the
+province. One hundred and fifty-four Negroes were arrested. Thirteen
+were burned, eighteen were hanged, and seventy-one transported.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is evident from these events and from the legislation of the era
+that, except for the earnest work of such a sect as the Quakers, there
+was little genuine effort for the improvement of the social condition
+of the Negro people in the colonies. They were not even regarded as
+potential citizens, and both in and out of the system of slavery were
+subjected to the harshest regulations. Towards amicable relations with
+the other racial elements that were coming to build up a new country
+only the slightest measure of progress was made. Instead, insurrection
+after insurrection revealed the sharpest antagonism, and any outbreak
+promptly called forth the severest and frequently the most cruel
+punishment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE REVOLUTIONARY ERA
+
+
+1. _Sentiment in England and America_
+
+The materialism of the eighteenth century, with all of its evils, at
+length produced a liberalism of thought that was to shake to their very
+foundations old systems of life in both Europe and America. The progress
+of the cause of the Negro in this period is to be explained by the
+general diffusion of ideas that made for the rights of man everywhere.
+Cowper wrote his humanitarian poems; in close association with the
+romanticism of the day the missionary movement in religion began to
+gather force; and the same impulse which in England began the agitation
+for a free press and for parliamentary reform, and which in France
+accounted for the French Revolution, in America led to the revolt from
+Great Britain. No patriot could come under the influence of any one
+of these movements without having his heart and his sense of justice
+stirred to some degree in behalf of the slave. At the same time it must
+be remembered that the contest of the Americans was primarily for the
+definite legal rights of Englishmen rather than for the more abstract
+rights of mankind which formed the platform of the French Revolution;
+hence arose the great inconsistency in the position of men who were
+engaged in a stern struggle for liberty at the same time that they
+themselves were holding human beings in bondage.
+
+In England the new era was formally signalized by an epoch-making
+decision. In November, 1769, Charles Stewart, once a merchant in Norfolk
+and later receiver general of the customs of North America, took to
+England his Negro slave, James Somerset, who, being sick, was turned
+adrift by his master. Later Somerset recovered and Stewart seized him,
+intending to have him borne out of the country and sold in Jamaica.
+Somerset objected to this and in so doing raised the important legal
+question, Did a slave by being brought to England become free? The case
+received an extraordinary amount of attention, for everybody realized
+that the decision would be far-reaching in its consequences. After it
+was argued at three different sittings, Lord Mansfield, Chief Justice of
+England, in 1772 handed down from the Court of King's Bench the judgment
+that as soon as ever any slave set his foot upon the soil of England he
+became free.
+
+This decision may be taken as fairly representative of the general
+advance that the cause of the Negro was making in England at the time.
+Early in the century sentiment against the slave-trade had begun to
+develop, many pamphlets on the evils of slavery were circulated, and as
+early as 1776 a motion for the abolition of the trade was made in the
+House of Commons. John Wesley preached against the system, Adam Smith
+showed its ultimate expensiveness, and Burke declared that the slavery
+endured by the Negroes in the English settlements was worse than that
+ever suffered by any other people. Foremost in the work of protest were
+Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce, the one being the leader in
+investigation and in the organization of the movement against slavery
+while the other was the parliamentary champion of the cause. For
+years, assisted by such debaters as Burke, Fox, and the younger Pitt,
+Wilberforce worked until on March 25, 1807, the bill for the abolition
+of the slave-trade received the royal assent, and still later until
+slavery itself was abolished in the English dominions (1833).
+
+This high thought in England necessarily found some reflection in
+America, where the logic of the position of the patriots frequently
+forced them to take up the cause of the slave. As early as 1751 Benjamin
+Franklin, in his _Observations concerning the Increase of Mankind_,
+pointed out the evil effects of slavery upon population and the
+production of wealth; and in 1761 James Otis, in his argument against
+the Writs of Assistance, spoke so vigorously of the rights of black men
+as to leave no doubt as to his own position. To Patrick Henry slavery
+was a practice "totally repugnant to the first impressions of right and
+wrong," and in 1777 he was interested in a plan for gradual emancipation
+received from his friend, Robert Pleasants. Washington desired nothing
+more than "to see some plan adopted by which slavery might be abolished
+by law"; while Joel Barlow in his _Columbiad_ gave significant warning
+to Columbia of the ills that she was heaping up for herself.
+
+Two of the expressions of sentiment of the day, by reason of their deep
+yearning and philosophic calm, somehow stand apart from others. Thomas
+Jefferson in his _Notes on Virginia_ wrote: "The whole commerce between
+master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous
+passions; the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading
+submission on the other.... The man must be a prodigy who can retain his
+manners and morals undepraved by such circumstances.... I tremble for my
+country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice can not sleep
+forever; that considering numbers, nature, and natural means only, a
+revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is
+among possible events; that it may become probable by supernatural
+interference! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us
+in such a contest."[1] Henry Laurens, that fine patriot whose business
+sense was excelled only by his idealism, was harassed by the problem and
+wrote to his son, Colonel John Laurens, as follows: "You know, my dear
+son, I abhor slavery. I was born in a country where slavery had been
+established by British kings and parliaments, as well as by the laws of
+that country ages before my existence. I found the Christian religion
+and slavery growing under the same authority and cultivation. I
+nevertheless disliked it. In former days there was no combating the
+prejudices of men supported by interest; the day I hope is approaching
+when, from principles of gratitude as well as justice, every man will
+strive to be foremost in showing his readiness to comply with the golden
+rule. Not less than twenty thousand pounds sterling would all my Negroes
+produce if sold at public auction to-morrow. I am not the man who
+enslaved them; they are indebted to Englishmen for that favor;
+nevertheless I am devising means for manumitting many of them, and for
+cutting off the entail of slavery. Great powers oppose me--the laws and
+customs of my country, my own and the avarice of my countrymen. What
+will my children say if I deprive them of so much estate? These are
+difficulties, but not insuperable. I will do as much as I can in my
+time, and leave the rest to a better hand."[2] Stronger than all else,
+however, were the immortal words of the Declaration of Independence: "We
+hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal;
+that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights;
+that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
+Within the years to come these words were to be denied and assailed as
+perhaps no others in the language; but in spite of all they were to
+stand firm and justify the faith of 1776 before Jefferson himself and
+others had become submerged in a gilded opportunism.
+
+[Footnote 1: "The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, issued under the
+auspices of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association," 20 vols.,
+Washington, 1903, II, 226-227.]
+
+[Footnote 2: "A South Carolina Protest against Slavery (being a letter
+written from Henry Laurens, second president of the Continental
+Congress, to his son, Colonel John Laurens; dated Charleston, S.C.,
+August 14th, 1776)." Reprinted by G.P. Putnam, New York, 1861.]
+
+It is not to be supposed that such sentiments were by any means general;
+nevertheless these instances alone show that some men at least in
+the colonies were willing to carry their principles to their logical
+conclusion. Naturally opinion crystallized in formal resolutions or
+enactments. Unfortunately most of these were in one way or another
+rendered ineffectual after the war; nevertheless the main impulse that
+they represented continued to live. In 1769 Virginia declared that the
+discriminatory tax levied on free Negroes and mulattoes since 1668 was
+"derogatory to the rights of freeborn subjects" and accordingly should
+be repealed. In October, 1774, the First Continental Congress declared
+in its Articles of Association that the united colonies would "neither
+import nor purchase any slave imported after the first day of December
+next" and that they would "wholly discontinue the trade." On April 16,
+1776, the Congress further resolved that "no slaves be imported into any
+of the thirteen colonies"; and the first draft of the Declaration of
+Independence contained a strong passage censuring the King of England
+for bringing slaves into the country and then inciting them to rise
+against their masters. On April 14, 1775, the first abolition society in
+the country was organized in Pennsylvania; in 1778 Virginia once more
+passed an act prohibiting the slave-trade; and the Methodist Conference
+in Baltimore in 1780 strongly expressed its disapproval of slavery.
+
+
+2. _The Negro in the War_
+
+As in all the greater wars in which the country has engaged, the
+position of the Negro was generally improved by the American Revolution.
+It was not by reason of any definite plan that this was so, for in
+general the disposition of the government was to keep him out of the
+conflict. Nevertheless between the hesitating policy of America and the
+overtures of England the Negro made considerable advance.
+
+The American cause in truth presented a strange and embarrassing
+dilemma, as we have remarked. In the war itself, moreover, began the
+stern cleavage between the North and the South. At the moment the rift
+was not clearly discerned, but afterwards it was to widen into a chasm.
+Massachusetts bore more than her share of the struggle, and in the South
+the combination of Tory sentiment and the aristocratic social system
+made enlistment especially difficult. In this latter section, moreover,
+there was always the lurking fear of an uprising of the slaves, and
+before the end of the war came South Carolina and Georgia were very
+nearly demoralized. In the course of the conflict South Carolina lost
+not less than 25,000 slaves,[1] about one-fifth of all she had. Georgia
+did not lose so many, but proportionally suffered even more. Some of the
+Negroes went into the British army, some went away with the loyalists,
+and some took advantage of the confusion and escaped to the Indians.
+In Virginia, until they were stopped at least, some slaves entered the
+Continental Army as free Negroes.
+
+[Footnote 1: Historical Notes on the Employment of Negroes in the
+American Army of the Revolution, by G.H. Moore, New York, 1862, p. 15.]
+
+Three or four facts are outstanding. The formal policy of Congress and
+of Washington and his officers was against the enlistment of Negroes and
+especially of slaves; nevertheless, while things were still uncertain,
+some Negroes entered the regular units. The inducements offered by the
+English, moreover, forced a modification of the American policy in
+actual operation; and before the war was over the colonists were so hard
+pressed that in more ways than one they were willing to receive the
+assistance of Negroes. Throughout the North Negroes served in the
+regular units; but while in the South especially there was much thought
+given to the training of slaves, in only one of all the colonies was
+there a distinctively Negro military organization, and that one was
+Rhode Island. In general it was understood that if a slave served in the
+war he was to be given his freedom, and it is worthy of note that many
+slaves served in the field instead of their masters.
+
+In Massachusetts on May 29, 1775, the Committee of Safety passed an act
+against the enlistment of slaves as "inconsistent with the principles
+that are to be supported." Another resolution of June 6 dealing with the
+same matter was laid on the table. Washington took command of the forces
+in and about Boston July 3, 1775, and on July 10 issued instructions
+to the recruiting officers in Massachusetts against the enlisting of
+Negroes. Toward the end of September there was a spirited debate in
+Congress over a letter to go to Washington, the Southern delegates, led
+by Rutledge of South Carolina, endeavoring to force instructions to the
+commander-in-chief to discharge all slaves and free Negroes in the
+army. A motion to this effect failed to win a majority; nevertheless, a
+council of Washington and his generals on October 8 "agreed unanimously
+to reject all slaves, and, by a great majority, to reject Negroes
+altogether," and in his general orders of November 12 Washington acted
+on this understanding. Meanwhile, however, Lord Dunmore issued his
+proclamation declaring free those indentured servants and Negroes who
+would join the English army, and in great numbers the slaves in Virginia
+flocked to the British standard. Then on December 14--somewhat to the
+amusement of both the Negroes and the English--the Virginia Convention
+issued a proclamation offering pardon to those slaves who returned to
+their duty within ten days. On December 30 Washington gave instructions
+for the enlistment of free Negroes, promising later to lay the matter
+before Congress; and a congressional committee on January 16, 1776,
+reported that those free Negroes who had already served faithfully in
+the army at Cambridge might reënlist but no others, the debate in this
+connection having drawn very sharply the line between the North and the
+South. Henceforth for all practical purposes the matter was left in the
+hands of the individual colonies. Massachusetts on January 6, 1777,
+passed a resolution drafting every seventh man to complete her quota
+"without any exception, save the people called Quakers," and this was as
+near as she came at any time in the war to the formal recognition of the
+Negro. The Rhode Island Assembly in 1778 resolved to raise a regiment
+of slaves, who were to be freed at enlistment, their owners in no case
+being paid more than £120. In the Battle of Rhode Island August 29,
+1778, the Negro regiment under Colonel Greene distinguished itself by
+deeds of desperate valor, repelling three times the assaults of an
+overwhelming force of Hessian troops. A little later, when Greene was
+about to be murdered, some of these same soldiers had to be cut to
+pieces before he could be secured. Maryland employed Negroes as soldiers
+and sent them into regiments along with white men, and it is to be
+remembered that at the time the Negro population of Maryland was
+exceeded only by that of Virginia and South Carolina. For the far South
+there was the famous Laurens plan for the raising of Negro regiments.
+
+In a letter to Washington of March 16, 1779, Henry Laurens suggested
+the raising and training of three thousand Negroes in South Carolina.
+Washington was rather conservative about the plan, having in mind the
+ever-present fear of the arming of Negroes and wondering about the
+effect on those slaves who were not given a chance for freedom. On June
+30, 1779, however, Sir Henry Clinton issued a proclamation only less
+far-reaching than Dunmore's, threatening Negroes if they joined the
+"rebel" army and offering them security if they came within the British
+lines. This was effective; assistance of any kind that the Continental
+Army could now get was acceptable; and the plan for the raising of
+several battalions of Negroes in the South was entrusted to Colonel John
+Laurens, a member of Washington's staff. In his own way Colonel Laurens
+was a man of parts quite as well as his father; he was thoroughly
+devoted to the American cause and Washington said of him that his only
+fault was a courage that bordered on rashness. He eagerly pursued his
+favorite project; able-bodied slaves were to be paid for by Congress at
+the rate of $1,000 each, and one who served to the end of the war was
+to receive his freedom and $50 in addition. In South Carolina, however,
+Laurens received little encouragement, and in 1780 he was called upon
+to go to France on a patriotic mission. He had not forgotten the matter
+when he returned in 1782; but by that time Cornwallis had surrendered
+and the country had entered upon the critical period of adjustment to
+the new conditions. Washington now wrote to Laurens: "I must confess
+that I am not at all astonished at the failure of your plan. That spirit
+of freedom which, at the commencement of this contest, would have gladly
+sacrificed everything to the attainment of its object, has long since
+subsided, and every selfish passion has taken its place. It is not the
+public but private interest which influences the generality of mankind;
+nor can the Americans any longer boast an exception. Under these
+circumstances, it would rather have been surprising if you had
+succeeded; nor will you, I fear, have better success in Georgia."[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Sparks's _Washington_, VIII, 322-323.]
+
+From this brief survey we may at least see something of the anomalous
+position occupied by the Negro in the American Revolution. Altogether
+not less than three thousand, and probably more, members of the race
+served in the Continental army. At the close of the conflict New York,
+Rhode Island, and Virginia freed their slave soldiers. In general,
+however, the system of slavery was not affected, and the English were
+bound by the treaty of peace not to carry away any Negroes. As late as
+1786, it is nevertheless interesting to note, a band of Negroes calling
+themselves "The King of England's soldiers" harassed and alarmed the
+people on both sides of the Savannah River.
+
+Slavery remained; but people could not forget the valor of the Negro
+regiment in Rhode Island, or the courage of individual soldiers. They
+could not forget that it was a Negro, Crispus Attucks, who had been the
+patriot leader in the Boston Massacre, or the scene when he and one of
+his companions, Jonas Caldwell, lay in Faneuil Hall. Those who were at
+Bunker Hill could not fail to remember Peter Salem, who, when Major
+Pitcairn of the British army was exulting in his expected triumph,
+rushed forward, shot him in the breast, and killed him; or Samuel Poor,
+whose officers testified that he performed so many brave deeds that "to
+set forth particulars of his conduct would be tedious." These and many
+more, some with very humble names, in a dark day worked for a better
+country. They died in faith, not having received the promises, but
+having seen them afar off.
+
+3. _The Northwest Territory and the Constitution_
+
+The materialism and selfishness which rose in the course of the war to
+oppose the liberal tendencies of the period, and which Washington felt
+did so much to embarrass the government, became pronounced in the
+debates on the Northwest Territory and the Constitution. At the outbreak
+of the Revolutionary War the region west of Pennsylvania, east of the
+Mississippi River, north of the Ohio River, and south of Canada, was
+claimed by Virginia, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. This
+territory afforded to these states a source of revenue not possessed by
+the others for the payment of debts incurred in the war, and Maryland
+and other seaboard states insisted that in order to equalize matters
+these claimants should cede their rights to the general government. The
+formal cessions were made and accepted in the years 1782-6. In April,
+1784, after Virginia had made her cession, the most important, Congress
+adopted a temporary form of government drawn up by Thomas Jefferson for
+the territory south as well as north of the Ohio River. Jefferson's most
+significant provision, however, was rejected. This declared that "after
+the year 1800 there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude
+in any of the said states other than in the punishment of crimes whereof
+the party shall have been duly convicted to have been personally
+guilty." This early ordinance, although it did not go into effect, is
+interesting as an attempt to exclude slavery from the great West that
+was beginning to be opened up. On March 3, 1786, moreover, the Ohio
+Company was formed in Boston by a group of New England business men for
+the purpose of purchasing land in the West and promoting settlement; and
+early in June, 1787, Dr. Manasseh Cutler, one of the chief promoters of
+the company, appeared in New York, where the last Continental Congress
+was sitting, for the concrete purpose of buying land. He doubtless
+did much to hasten action by Congress, and on July 13 was passed "An
+Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States,
+Northwest of the Ohio," the Southern states not having ceded the area
+south of the river. It was declared that "There shall be neither slavery
+nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in
+punishment of crimes, whereof the parties shall be duly convicted." To
+this was added the stipulation (soon afterwards embodied in the Federal
+Constitution) for the return of any person escaping into the territory
+from whom labor or service was "lawfully claimed in any one of the
+original states." In this shape the ordinance was adopted, even South
+Carolina and Georgia concurring; and thus was paved the way for the
+first fugitive slave law.
+
+Slavery, already looming up as a dominating issue, was the cause of
+two of the three great compromises that entered into the making of the
+Constitution of the United States (the third, which was the first made,
+being the concession to the smaller states of equal representation in
+the Senate). These were the first but not the last of the compromises
+that were to mark the history of the subject; and, as some clear-headed
+men of the time perceived, it would have been better and cheaper to
+settle the question at once on the high plane of right rather than to
+leave it indefinitely to the future. South Carolina, however, with able
+representation, largely controlled the thought of the convention, and
+she and Georgia made the most extreme demands, threatening not to accept
+the Constitution if there was not compliance with them. An important
+question was that of representation, the Southern states advocating
+representation according to numbers, slave and free, while the Northern
+states were in favor of the representation of free persons only.
+Williamson of North Carolina advocated the counting of three-fifths of
+the slaves, but this motion was at first defeated, and there was little
+real progress until Gouverneur Morris suggested that representation be
+according to the principle of wealth. Mason of Virginia pointed out
+practical difficulties which caused the resolution to be made to apply
+to direct taxation only, and in this form it began to be generally
+acceptable. By this time, however, the deeper feelings of the delegates
+on the subject of slavery had been stirred, and they began to speak
+plainly. Davie of North Carolina declared that his state would never
+enter the Union on any terms that did not provide for counting at least
+three-fifths of the slaves and that "if the Eastern states meant to
+exclude them altogether the business was at an end." It was finally
+agreed to reckon three-fifths of the slaves in estimating taxes and to
+make taxation the basis of representation. The whole discussion was
+renewed, however, in connection with the question of importation. There
+were more threats from the far South, and some of the men from New
+England, prompted by commercial interest, even if they did not favor
+the sentiments expressed, were at least disposed to give them passive
+acquiescence. From Maryland and Virginia, however, came earnest protest.
+Luther Martin declared unqualifiedly that to have a clause in the
+Constitution permitting the importation of slaves was inconsistent
+with the principles of the Revolution and dishonorable to the American
+character, and George Mason could foresee only a future in which a just
+Providence would punish such a national sin as slavery by national
+calamities. Such utterances were not to dominate the convention,
+however; it was a day of expediency, not of morality. A bargain was made
+between the commercial interests of the North and the slave-holding
+interests of the South, the granting to Congress of unrestricted power
+to enact navigation laws being conceded in exchange for twenty years'
+continuance of the slave-trade. The main agreements on the subject
+of slavery were thus finally expressed in the Constitution:
+"Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several
+states which may be included within this Union, according to their
+respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole
+number of free persons, including those bound to servitude for a term
+of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other
+persons" (Art. I, Sec. 2); "The migration or importation of such persons
+as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not
+be prohibited by the congress prior to the year 1808; but a tax or duty
+may be imposed, not exceeding ten dollars on each person" (Art. I, Sec.
+9); "No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws
+thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or
+regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall
+be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may
+be due" (Art. IV, Sec. 2). With such provisions, though without the use
+of the question-begging word _slaves_, the institution of human bondage
+received formal recognition in the organic law of the new republic of
+the United States.
+
+"Just what is the light in which we are to regard the slaves?" wondered
+James Wilson in the course of the debate. "Are they admitted as
+citizens?" he asked; "then why are they not admitted on an equality with
+white citizens? Are they admitted as property? then why is not other
+property admitted into the computation?" Such questions and others to
+which they gave rise were to trouble more heads than his in the course
+of the coming years, and all because a great nation did not have the
+courage to do the right thing at the right time.
+
+
+4. Early Steps toward Abolition
+
+In spite, however, of the power crystallized in the Constitution, the
+moral movement that had set in against slavery still held its ground,
+and it was destined never wholly to languish until slavery ceased
+altogether to exist in the United States. Throughout the century the
+Quakers continued their good work; in the generation before the war John
+Woolman of New Jersey traveled in the Southern colonies preaching that
+"the practice of continuing slavery is not right"; and Anthony Benezet
+opened in Philadelphia a school for Negroes which he himself taught
+without remuneration, and otherwise influenced Pennsylvania to begin the
+work of emancipation. In general the Quakers conducted their campaign
+along the lines on which they were most likely to succeed, attacking
+the slave-trade first of all but more and more making an appeal to
+the central government; and the first Abolition Society, organized in
+Pennsylvania in 1775 and consisting mainly of Quakers, had for its
+original object merely the relief of free Negroes unlawfully held in
+bondage.[1] The organization was forced to suspend its work in the
+course of the war, but in 1784 it renewed its meetings, and men of other
+denominations than the Quakers now joined in greater numbers. In 1787
+the society was formally reorganized as "The Pennsylvania Society
+for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, the Relief of Free Negroes
+unlawfully held in Bondage, and for Improving the Condition of the
+African Race." Benjamin Franklin was elected president and there was
+adopted a constitution which was more and more to serve as a model for
+similar societies in the neighboring states.
+
+[Footnote 1: Locke: _Anti-Slavery in America_, 97.]
+
+Four years later, by 1791, there were in the country as many as
+twelve abolition societies, and these represented all the states from
+Massachusetts to Virginia, with the exception of New Jersey, where a
+society was formed the following year. That of New York, formed in 1785
+with John Jay as president, took the name of the Manumission Society,
+limiting its aims at first to promoting manumission and protecting those
+Negroes who had already been set free. All of the societies had very
+clear ideas as to their mission. The prevalence of kidnaping made them
+emphasize "the relief of free Negroes unlawfully held in bondage,"
+and in general each one in addition to its executive committee had
+committees for inspection, advice, and protection; for the guardianship
+of children; for the superintending of education, and for employment.
+While the societies were originally formed to attend to local matters,
+their efforts naturally extended in course of time to national affairs,
+and on December 8, 1791, nine of them prepared petitions to Congress for
+the limitation of the slave-trade. These petitions were referred to a
+special committee and nothing more was heard of them at the time. After
+two years accordingly the organizations decided that a more vigorous
+plan of action was necessary, and on January 1, 1794, delegates from
+nine societies organized in Philadelphia the American Convention of
+Abolition Societies. The object of the Convention was twofold, "to
+increase the zeal and efficiency of the individual societies by
+its advice and encouragement ... and to take upon itself the chief
+responsibility in regard to national affairs." It prepared an address to
+the country and presented to Congress a memorial against the fitting out
+of vessels in the United States to engage in the slave-trade, and it had
+the satisfaction of seeing Congress in the same year pass a bill to this
+effect.
+
+Some of the organizations were very active and one as far South as that
+in Maryland was at first very powerful. Always were they interested
+in suits in courts of law. In 1797 the New York Society reported 90
+complaints, 36 persons freed, 21 cases still in suit, and 19 under
+consideration. The Pennsylvania Society reported simply that it had
+been instrumental in the liberation of "many hundreds" of persons. The
+different branches, however, did not rest with mere liberation; they
+endeavored generally to improve the condition of the Negroes in their
+respective communities, each one being expected to report to the
+Convention on the number of freedmen in its state and on their property,
+employment, and conduct. From time to time also the Convention prepared
+addresses to these people, and something of the spirit of its work and
+also of the social condition of the Negro at the time may be seen from
+the following address of 1796:
+
+    To the Free Africans and Other Free People of Color in the United
+    States.
+
+    The Convention of Deputies from the Abolition Societies in the
+    United States, assembled at Philadelphia, have undertaken to address
+    you upon subjects highly interesting to your prosperity.
+
+    They wish to see you act worthily of the rank you have acquired as
+    freemen, and thereby to do credit to yourselves, and to justify the
+    friends and advocates of your color in the eyes of the world.
+
+    As the result of our united reflections, we have concluded to call
+    your attention to the following articles of advice. We trust they
+    are dictated by the purest regard for your welfare, for we view you
+    as Friends and Brethren.
+
+    _In the first place_, We earnestly recommend to you, a regular
+    attention to the important duty of public worship; by which means
+    you will evince gratitude to your Creator, and, at the same time,
+    promote knowledge, union, friendship, and proper conduct among
+    yourselves.
+
+    _Secondly_, We advise such of you, as have not been taught reading,
+    writing, and the first principles of arithmetic, to acquire them
+    as early as possible. Carefully attend to the instruction of your
+    children in the same simple and useful branches of education. Cause
+    them, likewise, early and frequently to read the holy Scriptures;
+    these contain, amongst other great discoveries, the precious record
+    of the original equality of mankind, and of the obligations of
+    universal justice and benevolence, which are derived from the
+    relation of the human race to each other in a common Father.
+
+    _Thirdly_, Teach your children useful trades, or to labor with their
+    hands in cultivating the earth. These employments are favorable to
+    health and virtue. In the choice of masters, who are to instruct
+    them in the above branches of business, prefer those who will work
+    with them; by this means they will acquire habits of industry, and
+    be better preserved from vice than if they worked alone, or under
+    the eye of persons less interested in their welfare. In forming
+    contracts, for yourselves or children, with masters, it may be
+    useful to consult such persons as are capable of giving you the best
+    advice, and who are known to be your friends, in order to prevent
+    advantages being taken of your ignorance of the laws and customs of
+    our country.
+
+    _Fourthly_, Be diligent in your respective callings, and faithful in
+    all the relations you bear in society, whether as husbands, wives,
+    fathers, children or hired servants. Be just in all your dealings.
+    Be simple in your dress and furniture, and frugal in your family
+    expenses. Thus you will act like Christians as well as freemen, and,
+    by these means, you will provide for the distresses and wants of
+    sickness and old age.
+
+    _Fifthly_, Refrain from the use of spirituous liquors; the
+    experience of many thousands of the citizens of the United States
+    has proved that these liquors are not necessary to lessen the
+    fatigue of labor, nor to obviate the effects of heat or cold; nor
+    can they, in any degree, add to the innocent pleasures of society.
+
+    _Sixthly_, Avoid frolicking, and amusements which lead to expense
+    and idleness; they beget habits of dissipation and vice, and thus
+    expose you to deserved reproach amongst your white neighbors.
+
+    _Seventhly_, We wish to impress upon your minds the moral and
+    religious necessity of having your marriages legally performed; also
+    to have exact registers preserved of all the births and deaths which
+    occur in your respective families.
+
+    _Eighthly_, Endeavor to lay up as much as possible of your earnings
+    for the benefit of your children, in case you should die before they
+    are able to maintain themselves--your money will be safest and most
+    beneficial when laid out in lots, houses, or small farms.
+
+    _Ninthly_, We recommend to you, at all times and upon all occasions,
+    to behave yourselves to all persons in a civil and respectful
+    manner, by which you may prevent contention and remove every just
+    occasion of complaint. We beseech you to reflect, that it is by your
+    good conduct alone that you can refute the objections which have
+    been made against you as rational and moral creatures, and remove
+    many of the difficulties which have occurred in the general
+    emancipation of such of your brethren as are yet in bondage.
+
+    With hearts anxious for your welfare, we commend you to the guidance
+    and protection of that _Being_ who is able to keep you from all
+    evil, and who is the common Father and Friend of the whole family of
+    mankind.
+
+    Theodore Foster, President. Philadelphia, January 6th, 1796.
+    Thomas P. Cope, Secretary.
+
+The general impulse for liberty which prompted the Revolution and the
+early Abolition societies naturally found some reflection in formal
+legislation. The declarations of the central government under the
+Confederation were not very effective, and for more definite enactments
+we have to turn to the individual states. The honor of being the first
+actually to prohibit and abolish slavery really belongs to Vermont,
+whose constitution, adopted in 1777, even before she had come into the
+Union, declared very positively against the system. In 1782 the old
+Virginia statute forbidding emancipation except for meritorious services
+was repealed. The repeal was in force ten years, and in this time
+manumissions were numerous. Maryland soon afterwards passed acts similar
+to those in Virginia prohibiting the further introduction of slaves and
+removing restraints on emancipation, and New York and New Jersey also
+prohibited the further introduction of slaves from Africa or from other
+states. In 1780, in spite of considerable opposition because of the
+course of the war, the Pennsylvania Assembly passed an act forbidding
+the further introduction of slaves and giving freedom to all persons
+thereafter born in the state. Similar provisions were enacted in
+Connecticut and Rhode Island in 1784. Meanwhile Massachusetts was much
+agitated, and beginning in 1766 there were before the courts several
+cases in which Negroes sued for their freedom.[1] Their general argument
+was that the royal charter declared that all persons residing in the
+province were to be as free as the king's subjects in Great Britain,
+that by Magna Carta no subject could be deprived of liberty except by
+the judgment of his peers, and that any laws that may have been passed
+in the province to mitigate or regulate the evil of slavery did not
+authorize it. Sometimes the decisions were favorable, but at the
+beginning of the Revolution Massachusetts still recognized the system
+by the decision that no slave could be enlisted in the army. In 1777,
+however, some slaves brought from Jamaica were ordered to be set at
+liberty, and it was finally decided in 1783 that the declaration in the
+Massachusetts Bill of Rights to the effect that "all men are born
+free and equal" prohibited slavery. In this same year New Hampshire
+incorporated in her constitution a prohibitive article. By the time the
+convention for the framing of the Constitution of the United States
+met in Philadelphia in 1787, two of the original thirteen states
+(Massachusetts and New Hampshire) had positively prohibited slavery, and
+in three others (Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Rhode Island) gradual
+abolition was in progress.
+
+[Footnote 1: See Williams: _History of the Negro Race in America_, I,
+228-236.]
+
+The next decade was largely one of the settlement of new territory, and
+by its close the pendulum seemed to have swung decidedly backward. In
+1799, however, after much effort and debating, New York at last declared
+for gradual abolition, and New Jersey did likewise in 1804. In general,
+gradual emancipation was the result of the work of people who were
+humane but also conservative and who questioned the wisdom of thrusting
+upon the social organism a large number of Negroes suddenly emancipated.
+Sometimes, however, a gradual emancipation act was later followed by one
+for immediate manumission, as in New York in 1817. At first those who
+favored gradual emancipation were numerous in the South as well as in
+the North, but in general after Gabriel's insurrection in 1800, though
+some individuals were still outstanding, the South was quiescent. The
+character of the acts that were really put in force can hardly be better
+stated than has already been done by the specialist in the subject.[1]
+We read:
+
+[Footnote 1: Locke, 124-126.]
+
+    Gradual emancipation is defined as the extinction of slavery by
+    depriving it of its hereditary quality. In distinction from the
+    clauses in the constitutions of Vermont, Massachusetts, and New
+    Hampshire, which directly or indirectly affected the condition of
+    slavery as already existing, the gradual emancipation acts left this
+    condition unchanged and affected only the children born after
+    the passage of the act or after a fixed date. Most of these acts
+    followed that of Pennsylvania in providing that the children of a
+    slave mother should remain with her owner as servants until they
+    reached a certain age, of from twenty-one to twenty-eight years, as
+    stated in the various enactments. In Pennsylvania, however, they
+    were to be regarded as free. In Connecticut, on the other hand, they
+    were to be "held in servitude" until twenty-five years of age and
+    after that to be free. The most liberal policy was that of Rhode
+    Island, where the children were pronounced free but were to be
+    supported by the town and educated in reading, writing, and
+    arithmetic, morality and religion. The latter clauses, however, were
+    repealed the following year, leaving the children to be supported by
+    the owner of the mother until twenty-one years of age, and only if
+    he abandoned his claims to the mother to become a charge to the
+    town. In New York and New Jersey they were to remain as servants
+    until a certain age, but were regarded as free, and liberal
+    opportunities were given the master for the abandonment of his
+    claims, the children in such cases to be supported at the common
+    charge.... The manumission and emancipation acts were naturally
+    followed, as in the case of the constitutional provision in Vermont,
+    by the attempts of some of the slave-owners to dispose of their
+    property outside the State. Amendments to the laws were found
+    necessary, and the Abolition Societies found plenty of occasion for
+    their exertions in protecting free blacks from seizure and illegal
+    sale and in looking after the execution and amendment of the laws.
+    The process of gradual emancipation was also unsatisfactory on
+    account of the length of time it would require, and in Pennsylvania
+    and Connecticut attempts were made to obtain acts for immediate
+    emancipation.
+
+
+5. _Beginning of Racial Consciousness_
+
+Of supreme importance in this momentous period, more important perhaps
+in its ultimate effect than even the work of the Abolition Societies,
+was what the Negro was doing for himself. In the era of the Revolution
+began that racial consciousness on which almost all later effort for
+social betterment has been based.
+
+By 1700 the only coöperative effort on the part of the Negro was such as
+that in the isolated society to which Cotton Mather gave rules, or in a
+spasmodic insurrection, or a rather crude development of native African
+worship. As yet there was no genuine basis of racial self-respect. In
+one way or another, however, in the eighteenth century the idea of
+association developed, and especially in Boston about the time of the
+Revolution Negroes began definitely to work together; thus they assisted
+individuals in test cases in the courts, and when James Swan in his
+_Dissuasion from the Slave Trade_ made such a statement as that "no
+country can be called free where there is one slave," it was "at the
+earnest desire of the Negroes in Boston" that the revised edition of the
+pamphlet was published.
+
+From the very beginning the Christian Church was the race's foremost
+form of social organization. It was but natural that the first
+distinctively Negro churches should belong to the democratic Baptist
+denomination. There has been much discussion as to which was the very
+first Negro Baptist church, and good claims have been put forth by the
+Harrison Street Baptist Church of Petersburg, Va., and for a church
+in Williamsburg, Va., organization in each case going back to 1776.
+A student of the subject, however, has shown that there was a Negro
+Baptist church at Silver Bluff, "on the South Carolina side of the
+Savannah River, in Aiken County, just twelve miles from Augusta, Ga.,"
+founded not earlier than 1773, not later than 1775.[1] In any case
+special interest attaches to the First Bryan Baptist Church, of
+Savannah, founded in January, 1788. The origin of this body goes back to
+George Liele, a Negro born in Virginia, who might justly lay claim to
+being America's first foreign missionary. Converted by a Georgia Baptist
+minister, he was licensed as a probationer and was known to preach soon
+afterwards at a white quarterly meeting.[2] In 1783 he preached in the
+vicinity of Savannah, and one of those who came to hear him was Andrew
+Bryan, a slave of Jonathan Bryan. Liele then went to Jamaica and in 1784
+began to preach in Kingston, where with four brethren from America he
+formed a church. At first he was subjected to persecution; nevertheless
+by 1791 he had baptized over four hundred persons. Eight or nine months
+after he left for Jamaica, Andrew Bryan began to preach, and at first he
+was permitted to use a building at Yamacraw, in the suburbs of Savannah.
+Of this, however, he was in course of time dispossessed, the place being
+a rendezvous for those Negroes who had been taken away from their homes
+by the British. Many of these men were taken before the magistrates
+from time to time, and some were whipped and others imprisoned.
+Bryan himself, having incurred the ire of the authorities, was twice
+imprisoned and once publicly whipped, being so cut that he "bled
+abundantly"; but he told his persecutors that he "would freely suffer
+death for the cause of Jesus Christ," and after a while he was permitted
+to go on with his work. For some time he used a barn, being assisted
+by his brother Sampson; then for £50 he purchased his freedom, and
+afterwards he began to use for worship a house that Sampson had been
+permitted to erect. By 1791 his church had two hundred members, but over
+a hundred more had been received as converted members though they
+had not won their masters' permission to be baptized. An interesting
+sidelight on these people is furnished by the statement that probably
+fifty of them could read though only three could write. Years
+afterwards, in 1832, when the church had grown to great numbers, a large
+part of the congregation left the Bryan Church and formed what is now
+the First African Baptist Church of Savannah. Both congregations,
+however, remembered their early leader as one "clear in the grand
+doctrines of the Gospel, truly pious, and the instrument of doing more
+good among the poor slaves than all the learned doctors in America."
+
+[Footnote 1: Walter H. Brooks: _The Silver Bluff Church_.]
+
+[Footnote 2: See letters in Journal of Negro History, January, 1916,
+69-97.]
+
+While Bryan was working in Savannah, in Richmond, Va., rose Lott Cary, a
+man of massive and erect frame and of great personality. Born a slave in
+1780, Cary worked for a number of years in a tobacco factory, leading a
+wicked life. Converted in 1807, he made rapid advance in education and
+he was licensed as a Baptist preacher. He purchased his own freedom
+and that of his children (his first wife having died), organized a
+missionary society, and then in 1821 himself went as a missionary to the
+new colony of Liberia, in whose interest he worked heroically until his
+death in 1828.
+
+More clearly defined than the origin of Negro Baptist churches are
+the beginnings of African Methodism. Almost from the time of its
+introduction in the country Methodism made converts among the Negroes
+and in 1786 there were nearly two thousand Negroes in the regular
+churches of the denomination, which, like the Baptist denomination, it
+must be remembered, was before the Revolution largely overshadowed
+in official circles by the Protestant Episcopal Church. The general
+embarrassment of the Episcopal Church in America in connection with the
+war, and the departure of many loyalist ministers, gave opportunity to
+other denominations as well as to certain bodies of Negroes. The white
+members of St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia,
+however, determined to set apart its Negro membership and to segregate
+it in the gallery. Then in 1787 came a day when the Negroes, choosing
+not to be insulted, and led by Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, left the
+edifice, and with these two men as overseers on April 17 organized
+the Free African Society. This was intended to be "without regard to
+religious tenets," the members being banded together "to support one
+another in sickness and for the benefit of their widows and fatherless
+children." The society was in the strictest sense fraternal, there being
+only eight charter members: Absalom Jones, Richard Allen, Samuel Boston,
+Joseph Johnson, Cato Freeman, Cæsar Cranchell, James Potter, and William
+White. By 1790 the society had on deposit in the Bank of North America
+£42 9s. id., and that it generally stood for racial enterprise may be
+seen from the fact that in 1788 an organization in Newport known as
+the Negro Union, in which Paul Cuffe was prominent, wrote proposing a
+general exodus of the Negroes to Africa. Nothing came of the suggestion
+at the time, but at least it shows that representative Negroes of the
+day were beginning to think together about matters of general policy.
+
+In course of time the Free African Society of Philadelphia resolved into
+an "African Church," and this became affiliated with the Protestant
+Episcopal Church, whose bishop had exercised an interest in it. Out of
+this organization developed St. Thomas's Episcopal Church, organized in
+1791 and formally opened for service July 17, 1794. Allen was at first
+selected for ordination, but he decided to remain a Methodist and Jones
+was chosen in his stead and thus became the first Negro rector in the
+United States. Meanwhile, however, in 1791, Allen himself had purchased
+a lot at the corner of Sixth and Lombard Streets; he at once set about
+arranging for the building that became Bethel Church; and in 1794 he
+formally sold the lot to the church and the new house of worship was
+dedicated by Bishop Asbury of the Methodist Episcopal Church. With
+this general body Allen and his people for a number of years remained
+affiliated, but difficulties arose and separate churches having come
+into being in other places, a convention of Negro Methodists was at
+length called to meet in Philadelphia April 9, 1816. To this came
+sixteen delegates--Richard Allen, Jacob Tapsico, Clayton Durham, James
+Champion, Thomas Webster, of Philadelphia; Daniel Coker, Richard
+Williams, Henry Harden, Stephen Hill, Edward Williamson, Nicholas
+Gailliard, of Baltimore: Jacob Marsh, Edward Jackson, William Andrew,
+of Attleborough, Penn.; Peter Spencer, of Wilmington, Del., and Peter
+Cuffe, of Salem, N.J.--and these were the men who founded the African
+Methodist Episcopal Church. Coker, of whom we shall hear more in
+connection with Liberia, was elected bishop, but resigned in favor of
+Allen, who served until his death in 1831.
+
+In 1796 a congregation in New York consisting of James Varick and others
+also withdrew from the main body of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and
+in 1800 dedicated a house of worship. For a number of years it had the
+oversight of the older organization, but after preliminary steps in
+1820, on June 21, 1821, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
+was formally organized. To the first conference came 19 preachers
+representing 6 churches and 1,426 members. Varick was elected district
+chairman, but soon afterwards was made bishop. The polity of this church
+from the first differed somewhat from that of the A.M.E. denomination in
+that representation of the laity was a prominent feature and there was
+no bar to the ordination of women.
+
+Of denominations other than the Baptist and the Methodist, the most
+prominent in the earlier years was the Presbyterian, whose first Negro
+ministers were John Gloucester and John Chavis. Gloucester owed his
+training to the liberal tendencies that about 1800 were still strong in
+eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, and in 1810 took charge of the African
+Presbyterian Church which in 1807 had been established in Philadelphia.
+He was distinguished by a rich musical voice and the general dignity
+of his life, and he himself became the father of four Presbyterian
+ministers. Chavis had a very unusual career. After passing "through
+a regular course of academic studies" at Washington Academy, now
+Washington and Lee University, in 1801 he was commissioned by the
+General Assembly of the Presbyterians as a missionary to the Negroes. He
+worked with increasing reputation until Nat Turner's insurrection caused
+the North Carolina legislature in 1832 to pass an act silencing all
+Negro preachers. Then in Wake County and elsewhere he conducted schools
+for white boys until his death in 1838. In these early years distinction
+also attaches to Lemuel Haynes, a Revolutionary patriot and the first
+Negro preacher of the Congregational denomination. In 1785 he became the
+pastor of a white congregation in Torrington, Conn., and in 1818 began
+to serve another in Manchester, N.H.
+
+After the church the strongest organization among Negroes has
+undoubtedly been that of secret societies commonly known as "lodges."
+The benefit societies were not necessarily secret and call for separate
+consideration. On March 6, 1775, an army lodge attached to one of the
+regiments stationed under General Gage in or near Boston initiated
+Prince Hall and fourteen other colored men into the mysteries of
+Freemasonry.[1] These fifteen men on March 2, 1784, applied to the Grand
+Lodge of England for a warrant. This was issued to "African Lodge, No.
+459," with Prince Hall as master, September 29, 1784. Various delays and
+misadventures befell the warrant, however, so that it was not actually
+received before April 29, 1787. The lodge was then duly organized May 6.
+From this beginning developed the idea of Masonry among the Negroes of
+America. As early as 1792 Hall was formally styled Grand Master, and in
+1797 he issued a license to thirteen Negroes to "assemble and work" as
+a lodge in Philadelphia; and there was also at this time a lodge in
+Providence. Thus developed in 1808 the "African Grand Lodge" of Boston,
+afterwards known as "Prince Hall Lodge of Massachusetts"; the second
+Grand Lodge, called the "First Independent African Grand Lodge of North
+America in and for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," organized in 1815;
+and the "Hiram Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania."
+
+[Footnote 1: William H. Upton: Negro Masonry, Cambridge, 1899, 10.]
+
+Something of the interest of the Masons in their people, and the calm
+judgment that characterized their procedure, may be seen from the words
+of their leader, Prince Hall.[1] Speaking in 1797, and having in mind
+the revolution in Hayti and recent indignities inflicted upon the race
+in Boston, he said:
+
+[Footnote 1: "A Charge Delivered to the African Lodge, June 24, 1797, at
+Menotomy. By the Right Worshipful Prince Hall." (Boston?) 1797.]
+
+    When we hear of the bloody wars which are now in the world, and
+    thousands of our fellowmen slain; fathers and mothers bewailing the
+    loss of their sons; wives for the loss of their husbands; towns and
+    cities burnt and destroyed; what must be the heartfelt sorrow and
+    distress of these poor and unhappy people! Though we can not help
+    them, the distance being so great, yet we may sympathize with them
+    in their troubles, and mingle a tear of sorrow with them, and do as
+    we are exhorted to--weep with those that weep....
+
+    Now, my brethren, as we see and experience that all things here are
+    frail and changeable and nothing here to be depended upon: Let us
+    seek those things which are above, which are sure and steadfast,
+    and unchangeable, and at the same time let us pray to Almighty God,
+    while we remain in the tabernacle, that he would give us the grace
+    and patience and strength to bear up under all our troubles, which
+    at this day God knows we have our share. Patience I say, for were we
+    not possessed of a great measure of it you could not bear up under
+    the daily insults you meet with in the streets of Boston; much more
+    on public days of recreation, how are you shamefully abused, and
+    that at such a degree, that you may truly be said to carry your
+    lives in your hands; and the arrows of death are flying about your
+    heads; helpless old women have their clothes torn off their backs,
+    even to the exposing of their nakedness; and by whom are these
+    disgraceful and abusive actions committed? Not by the men born and
+    bred in Boston, for they are better bred; but by a mob or horde of
+    shameless, low-lived, envious, spiteful persons, some of them not
+    long since, servants in gentlemen's kitchens, scouring knives,
+    tending horses, and driving chaise. 'Twas said by a gentleman who
+    saw that filthy behavior in the Common, that in all the places he
+    had been in he never saw so cruel behavior in all his life, and that
+    a slave in the West Indies, on Sundays or holidays, enjoys himself
+    and friends without molestation. Not only this man, but many in
+    town who have seen their behavior to you, and that without any
+    provocations twenty or thirty cowards fall upon one man, have
+    wondered at the patience of the blacks; 'tis not for want of courage
+    in you, for they know that they dare not face you man for man, but
+    in a mob, which we despise, and had rather suffer wrong than do
+    wrong, to the disturbance of the community and the disgrace of our
+    reputation; for every good citizen does honor to the laws of the
+    State where he resides....
+
+    My brethren, let us not be cast down under these and many other
+    abuses we at present labor under: for the darkest is before the
+    break of day. My brethren, let us remember what a dark day it was
+    with our African brethren six years ago, in the French West Indies.
+    Nothing but the snap of the whip was heard from morning to evening;
+    hanging, breaking on the wheel, burning, and all manner of tortures
+    inflicted on those unhappy people, for nothing else but to gratify
+    their masters' pride, wantonness, and cruelty: but blessed be God,
+    the scene is changed; they now confess that God hath no respect of
+    persons, and therefore receive them as their friends, and treat them
+    as brothers. Thus doth Ethiopia begin to stretch forth her hand,
+    from a sink of slavery to freedom and equality.
+
+An African Society was organized in New York in 1808 and chartered
+in 1810, and out of it grew in course of time three or four other
+organizations. Generally close to the social aim of the church and
+sometimes directly fathered by the secret societies were the benefit
+organizations, which even in the days of slavery existed for aid in
+sickness or at death; in fact, it was the hopelessness of the general
+situation coupled with the yearning for care when helpless that largely
+called these societies into being. Their origin has been explained
+somewhat as follows:
+
+Although it was unlawful for Negroes to assemble without the presence
+of a white man, and so unlawful to allow a congregation of slaves on
+a plantation without the consent of the master, these organizations
+existed and held these meetings on the "lots" of some of the law-makers
+themselves. The general plan seems to have been to select some one who
+could read and write and make him the secretary. The meeting-place
+having been selected, the members would come by ones and twos, make
+their payments to the secretary, and quietly withdraw. The book of the
+secretary was often kept covered up on the bed. In many of the societies
+each member was known by number and in paying simply announced his
+number. The president of such a society was usually a privileged slave
+who had the confidence of his or her master and could go and come at
+will. Thus a form of communication could be kept up between all members.
+In event of death of a member, provision was made for decent burial,
+and all the members as far as possible obtained permits to attend the
+funeral. Here and again their plan of getting together was brought into
+play. In Richmond they would go to the church by ones and twos and there
+sit as near together as convenient. At the close of the service a line
+of march would be formed when sufficiently far from the church to make
+it safe to do so. It is reported that the members were faithful to each
+other and that every obligation was faithfully carried out. This was
+the first form of insurance known to the Negro from which his family
+received a benefit.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Hampton Conference Report, No. 8]
+
+All along of course a determining factor in the Negro's social progress
+was the service that he was able to render to any community in which he
+found himself as well as to his own people. Sometimes he was called upon
+to do very hard work, sometimes very unpleasant or dangerous work;
+but if he answered the call of duty and met an actual human need, his
+service had to receive recognition. An example of such work was found in
+his conduct in the course of the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia
+in 1793. Knowing that fever in general was not quite as severe in
+its ravages upon Negroes as upon white people, the daily papers of
+Philadelphia called upon the colored people in the town to come forward
+and assist with the sick. The Negroes consented, and Absalom Jones and
+William Gray were appointed to superintend the operations, though as
+usual it was upon Richard Allen that much of the real responsibility
+fell. In September the fever increased and upon the Negroes devolved
+also the duty of removing corpses. In the course of their work they
+encountered much opposition; thus Jones said that a white man threatened
+to shoot him if he passed his house with a corpse. This man himself the
+Negroes had to bury three days afterwards. When the epidemic was over,
+under date January 23, 1794, Matthew Clarkson, the mayor, wrote the
+following testimonial: "Having, during the prevalence of the late
+malignant disorder, had almost daily opportunities of seeing the conduct
+of Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, and the people employed by them to
+bury the dead, I with cheerfulness give this testimony of my approbation
+of their proceedings, as far as the same came under my notice. Their
+diligence, attention, and decency of deportment, afforded me, at the
+time, much satisfaction." After the lapse of years it is with something
+of the pathos of martyrdom that we are impressed by the service of
+these struggling people, who by their self-abnegation and patriotism
+endeavored to win and deserve the privileges of American citizenship.
+
+All the while, in one way or another, the Negro was making advance in
+education. As early as 1704 we have seen that Neau opened a school
+in New York; there was Benezet's school in Philadelphia before the
+Revolutionary War, and in 1798 one for Negroes was established in
+Boston. In the first part of the century, we remember also, some Negroes
+were apprenticed in Virginia under the oversight of the church. In 1764
+the editor of a paper in Williamsburg, Va., established a school for
+Negroes, and we have seen that as many as one-sixth of the members of
+Andrew Bryan's congregation in the far Southern city of Savannah could
+read by 1790. Exceptional men, like Gloucester and Chavis, of course
+availed themselves of such opportunities as came their way. All told,
+by 1800 the Negro had received much more education than is commonly
+supposed.
+
+Two persons--one in science and one in literature--because of their
+unusual attainments attracted much attention. The first was Benjamin
+Banneker of Maryland, and the second Phillis Wheatley of Boston.
+Banneker in 1770 constructed the first clock striking the hours that was
+made in America, and from 1792 to 1806 published an almanac adapted to
+Maryland and the neighboring states. He was thoroughly scholarly in
+mathematics and astronomy, and by his achievements won a reputation
+for himself in Europe as well as in America. Phillis Wheatley, after a
+romantic girlhood of transition from Africa to a favorable environment
+in Boston, in 1773 published her _Poems on Various Subjects_, which
+volume she followed with several interesting occasional poems.[1] For
+the summer of this year she was the guest in England of the Countess of
+Huntingdon, whose patronage she had won by an elegiac poem on George
+Whitefield; in conversation even more than in verse-making she exhibited
+her refined taste and accomplishment, and presents were showered upon
+her, one of them being a copy of the magnificent 1770 Glasgow folio
+edition of _Paradise Lost_, which was given by Brook Watson, Lord
+Mayor of London, and which is now preserved in the library of Harvard
+University. In the earlier years of the next century her poems
+found their way into the common school readers. One of those in her
+representative volume was addressed to Scipio Moorhead, a young Negro of
+Boston who had shown some talent for painting. Thus even in a dark day
+there were those who were trying to struggle upward to the light.
+
+[Footnote 1: For a full study see Chapter II of _The Negro in Literature
+and Art_.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE NEW WEST, THE SOUTH, AND THE WEST INDIES
+
+
+The twenty years of the administrations of the first three presidents of
+the United States--or, we might say, the three decades between 1790
+and 1820--constitute what might be considered the "Dark Ages" of Negro
+history; and yet, as with most "Dark Ages," at even a glance below the
+surface these years will be found to be throbbing with life, and we have
+already seen that in them the Negro was doing what he could on his own
+account to move forward. After the high moral stand of the Revolution,
+however, the period seems quiescent, and it was indeed a time of
+definite reaction. This was attributable to three great events: the
+opening of the Southwest with the consequent demand for slaves, the
+Haytian revolution beginning in 1791, and Gabriel's insurrection in
+1800.
+
+In no way was the reaction to be seen more clearly than in the decline
+of the work of the American Convention of Delegates from the Abolition
+Societies. After 1798 neither Connecticut nor Rhode Island sent
+delegates; the Southern states all fell away by 1803; and while from New
+England came the excuse that local conditions hardly made aggressive
+effort any longer necessary, the lack of zeal in this section was also
+due to some extent to a growing question as to the wisdom of interfering
+with slavery in the South. In Virginia, that just a few years before
+had been so active, a statute was now passed imposing a penalty of one
+hundred dollars on any person who assisted a slave in asserting his
+freedom, provided he failed to establish the claim; and another
+provision enjoined that no member of an abolition society should serve
+as a juror in a freedom suit. Even the Pennsylvania society showed signs
+of faintheartedness, and in 1806 the Convention decided upon triennial
+rather than annual meetings. It did not again become really vigorous
+until after the War of 1812.
+
+
+1. _The Cotton-Gin, the New Southwest, and the First Fugitive Slave Law_
+
+Of incalculable significance in the history of the Negro in America
+was the series of inventions in England by Arkwright, Hargreaves, and
+Crompton in the years 1768-79. In the same period came the discovery
+of the power of steam by James Watt of Glasgow and its application to
+cotton manufacture, and improvements followed quickly in printing and
+bleaching. There yet remained one final invention of importance for the
+cultivation of cotton on a large scale. Eli Whitney, a graduate of Yale,
+went to Georgia and was employed as a teacher by the widow of General
+Greene on her plantation. Seeing the need of some machine for the more
+rapid separating of cotton-seed from the fiber, he labored until in 1793
+he succeeded in making his cotton-gin of practical value. The tradition
+is persistent, however, that the real credit of the invention belongs
+to a Negro on the plantation. The cotton-gin created great excitement
+throughout the South and began to be utilized everywhere. The
+cultivation and exporting of the staple grew by leaps and bounds. In
+1791 only thirty-eight bales of standard size were exported from the
+United States; in 1816, however, the cotton sent out of the country was
+worth $24,106,000 and was by far the most valuable article of export.
+The current price was 28 cents a pound. Thus at the very time that the
+Northern states were abolishing slavery, an industry that had slumbered
+became supreme, and the fate of hundreds of thousands of Negroes was
+sealed.
+
+Meanwhile the opening of the West went forward, and from Maine and
+Massachusetts, Carolina and Georgia journeyed the pioneers to lay the
+foundations of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and Alabama and Mississippi.
+It was an eager, restless caravan that moved, and sometimes more than a
+hundred persons in a score of wagons were to be seen going from a single
+town in the East--"Baptists and Methodists and Democrats." The careers
+of Boone and Sevier and those who went with them, and the story of their
+fights with the Indians, are now a part of the romance of American
+history. In 1790 a cluster of log huts on the Ohio River was named in
+honor of the Society of the Cincinnati. In 1792 Kentucky was admitted to
+the Union, the article on slavery in her constitution encouraging the
+system and discouraging emancipation, and Tennessee also entered as a
+slave state in 1796.
+
+Of tremendous import to the Negro were the questions relating to the
+Mississippi Territory. After the Revolution Georgia laid claim to great
+tracts of land now comprising the states of Alabama and Mississippi,
+with the exception of the strip along the coast claimed by Spain
+in connection with Florida. This territory became a rich field for
+speculation, and its history in its entirety makes a complicated story.
+A series of sales to what were known as the Yazoo Companies, especially
+in that part of the present states whose northern boundary would be a
+line drawn from the mouth of the Yazoo to the Chattahoochee, resulted in
+conflicting claims, the last grant sale being made in 1795 by a corrupt
+legislature at the price of a cent and a half an acre. James Jackson
+now raised the cry of bribery and corruption, resigned from the United
+States Senate, secured a seat in the state legislature, and on February
+13, 1796, carried through a bill rescinding the action of the previous
+year,[1] and the legislature burned the documents concerned with the
+Yazoo sale in token of its complete repudiation of them. The purchasers
+to whom the companies had sold lands now began to bombard Congress with
+petitions and President Adams helped to arrive at a settlement by which
+Georgia transferred the lands in question to the Federal Government,
+which undertook to form of them the Mississippi Territory and to pay
+any damages involved. In 1802 Georgia threw the whole burden upon the
+central government by transferring to it _all_ of her land beyond her
+present boundaries, though for this she exacted an article favorable
+to slavery. All was now made into the Mississippi Territory, to which
+Congress held out the promise that it would be admitted as a state as
+soon as its population numbered 60,000; but Alabama was separated from
+Mississippi in 1816. The old matter of claims was not finally disposed
+of until an act of 1814 appropriated $5,000,000 for the purpose. In
+the same year Andrew Jackson's decisive victories over the Creeks at
+Talladega and Horseshoe Bend--of which more must be said--resulted in
+the cession of a vast tract of the land of that unhappy nation and thus
+finally opened for settlement three-fourths of the present state of
+Alabama.
+
+[Footnote 1: Phillips in _The South in the Building of the Nation_, II,
+154.]
+
+It was in line with the advance that slavery was making in new territory
+that there was passed the first Fugitive Slave Act (1793). This grew out
+of the discussion incident to the seizure in 1791 at Washington, Penn.,
+of a Negro named John, who was taken to Virginia, and the correspondence
+between the Governor of Pennsylvania and the Governor of Virginia with
+reference to the case. The important third section of the act read as
+follows:
+
+    _And be it also enacted_, That when a person held to labor in any of
+    the United States, or in either of the territories on the northwest
+    or south of the river Ohio, under the laws thereof, shall escape
+    into any other of the said states or territory, the person to whom
+    such labor or service may be due, his agent or attorney, is hereby
+    empowered to seize or arrest such fugitive from labor, and to take
+    him or her before any judge of the circuit or district courts of the
+    United States, residing or being within the state, or before any
+    magistrate of a county, city or town corporate, wherein such seizure
+    or arrest shall be made, and upon proof to the satisfaction of such
+    judge or magistrate, either by oral testimony or affidavit taken
+    before and certified by a magistrate of any such state or territory,
+    that the person so seized or arrested, doth, under the laws of the
+    state or territory from which he or she fled, owe service or labor
+    to the person claiming him or her, it shall be the duty of such
+    judge or magistrate to give a certificate thereof to such claimant,
+    his agent or attorney, which shall be sufficient warrant for
+    removing the said fugitive from labor, to the state or territory
+    from which he or she fled.
+
+It will be observed that by the terms of this enactment a master had
+the right to recover a fugitive slave by proving his ownership before a
+magistrate without a jury or any other of the ordinary forms of law. A
+human being was thus placed at the disposal of the lowest of courts and
+subjected to such procedure as was not allowed even in petty property
+suits. A great field for the bribery of magistrates was opened up, and
+opportunity was given for committing to slavery Negro men about whose
+freedom there should have been no question.
+
+By the close of the decade 1790-1800 the fear occasioned by the Haytian
+revolution had led to a general movement against the importation of
+Negroes, especially of those from the West Indies. Even Georgia in 1798
+prohibited the importation of all slaves, and this provision, although
+very loosely enforced, was never repealed. In South Carolina, however,
+to the utter chagrin and dismay of the other states, importation,
+prohibited in 1787, was again legalized in 1803; and in the four years
+immediately following 39,075 Negroes were brought to Charleston, most of
+these going to the territories.[1] When in 1803 Ohio was carved out of
+the Northwest Territory as a free state, an attempt was made to
+claim the rest of the territory for slavery, but this failed. In the
+congressional session of 1804-5 the matter of slavery in the newly
+acquired territory of Louisiana was brought up, and slaves were allowed
+to be imported if they had come to the United States before 1798, the
+purpose of this provision being to guard against the consequences of
+South Carolina's recent act, although such a clause never received rigid
+enforcement. The mention of Louisiana, however, brings us concretely to
+Toussaint L'Ouverture, the greatest Negro in the New World in the period
+and one of the greatest of all time.
+
+[Footnote 1: DuBois: _Suppression of the Slave-Trade_, 90.]
+
+
+_2. Toussaint L'Ouverture, Louisiana, and the Formal Closing of the
+Slave-Trade_
+
+When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, it was not long before its
+general effects were felt in the West Indies. Of special importance was
+Santo Domingo because of the commercial interests centered there. The
+eastern end of the island was Spanish, but the western portion was
+French, and in this latter part was a population of 600,000, of which
+number 50,000 were French Creoles, 50,000 mulattoes, and 500,000 pure
+Negroes. All political and social privileges were monopolized by the
+Creoles, while the Negroes were agricultural laborers and slaves; and
+between the two groups floated the restless element of the free people
+of color.
+
+When the General Assembly in France decreed equality of rights to
+all citizens, the mulattoes of Santo Domingo made a petition for the
+enjoyment of the same political privileges as the white people--to the
+unbounded consternation of the latter. They were rewarded with a
+decree which was so ambiguously worded that it was open to different
+interpretations and which simply heightened the animosity that for years
+had been smoldering. A new petition to the Assembly in 1791 primarily
+for an interpretation brought forth on May 15 the explicit decree that
+the people of color were to have all the rights and privileges of
+citizens, provided they had been born of free parents on both sides. The
+white people were enraged by the decision, turned royalist, and trampled
+the national cockade underfoot; and throughout the summer armed strife
+and conflagration were the rule. To add to the confusion the black
+slaves struck for freedom and on the night of August 23, 1791, drenched
+the island in blood. In the face of these events the Conventional
+Assembly rescinded its order, then announced that the original decree
+must be obeyed, and it sent three commissioners with troops to Santo
+Domingo, real authority being invested in Santhonax and Polverel.
+
+On June 20, 1793, at Cape François trouble was renewed by a quarrel
+between a mulatto and a white officer in the marines. The seamen came
+ashore and loaned their assistance to the white people, and the Negroes
+now joined forces with the mulattoes. In the battle of two days that
+followed the arsenal was taken and plundered, thousands were killed
+in the streets, and more than half of the town was burned. The French
+commissioners were the unhappy witnesses of the scene, but they were
+practically helpless, having only about a thousand troops. Santhonax,
+however, issued a proclamation offering freedom to all slaves who were
+willing to range themselves under the banner of the Republic. This was
+the first proclamation for the freeing of slaves in Santo Domingo, and
+as a result of it many of the Negroes came in and were enfranchised.
+
+Soon after this proclamation Polverel left his colleague at the Cape and
+went to Port au Prince, the capital of the West. Here things were quiet
+and the cultivation of the crops was going forward as usual. The slaves
+were soon unsettled, however, by the news of what was being done
+elsewhere, and Polverel was convinced that emancipation could not be
+delayed and that for the safety of the planters themselves it was
+necessary to extend it to the whole island. In September (1793) he set
+in circulation from Aux Cayes a proclamation to this effect, and at the
+same time he exhorted all the planters in the vicinity who concurred in
+his work to register their names. This almost all of them did, as they
+were convinced of the need of measures for their personal safety; and on
+February 4, 1794, the Conventional Assembly in Paris formally approved
+all that had been done by decreeing the abolition of slavery in all the
+colonies of France.
+
+All the while the Spanish and the English had been looking on with
+interest and had even come to the French part of the island as if to aid
+in the restoration of order. Among the former, at first in charge of
+a little royalist band, was the Negro, Toussaint, later called
+L'Ouverture. He was then a man in the prime of life, forty-eight years
+old, and already his experience had given him the wisdom that was needed
+to bring peace in Santo Domingo. In April, 1794, impressed by the decree
+of the Assembly, he returned to the jurisdiction of France and took
+service under the Republic. In 1796 he became a general of brigade; in
+1797 general-in-chief, with the military command of the whole colony.
+
+He at once compelled the surrender of the English who had invaded his
+country. With the aid of a commercial agreement with the United States,
+he next starved out the garrison of his rival, the mulatto Rigaud, whom
+he forced to consent to leave the country. He then imprisoned Roume, the
+agent of the Directory, and assumed civil as well as military authority.
+He also seized the Spanish part of the island, which had been ceded to
+France some years before but had not been actually surrendered. He then,
+in May, 1801, gave to Santo Domingo a constitution by which he not only
+assumed power for life but gave to himself the right of naming his
+successor; and all the while he was awakening the admiration of the
+world by his bravery, his moderation, and his genuine instinct for
+government.
+
+Across the ocean, however, a jealous man was watching with interest the
+career of the "gilded African." None knew better than Napoleon that
+it was because he did not trust France that Toussaint had sought the
+friendship of the United States, and none read better than he the logic
+of events. As Adams says, "Bonaparte's acts as well as his professions
+showed that he was bent on crushing democratic ideas, and that he
+regarded St. Domingo as an outpost of American republicanism, although
+Toussaint had made a rule as arbitrary as that of Bonaparte himself....
+By a strange confusion of events, Toussaint L'Ouverture, because he was
+a Negro, became the champion of republican principles, with which he
+had nothing but the instinct of personal freedom in common. Toussaint's
+government was less republican than that of Bonaparte; he was doing
+by necessity in St. Domingo what Bonaparte was doing by choice in
+France."[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: _History of the United States_, I, 391-392.]
+
+This was the man to whom the United States ultimately owes the purchase
+of Louisiana. On October 1, 1801, Bonaparte gave orders to General Le
+Clerc for a great expedition against Santo Domingo. In January, 1802, Le
+Clerc appeared and war followed. In the course of this, Toussaint--who
+was ordinarily so wise and who certainly knew that from Napoleon he had
+most to fear--made the great mistake of his life and permitted himself
+to be led into a conference on a French vessel. He was betrayed and
+taken to France, where within the year he died of pneumonia in the
+dungeon of Joux. Immediately there was a proclamation annulling the
+decree of 1794 giving freedom to the slaves. Bonaparte, however, had not
+estimated the force of Toussaint's work, and to assist the Negroes in
+their struggle now came a stalwart ally, yellow fever. By the end of the
+summer only one-seventh of Le Clerc's army remained, and he himself died
+in November. At once Bonaparte planned a new expedition. While he was
+arranging for the leadership of this, however, the European war broke
+out again. Meanwhile the treaty for the retrocession of the territory
+of Louisiana had not yet received the signature of the Spanish king,
+because Godoy, the Spanish representative, would not permit the
+signature to be affixed until all the conditions were fulfilled; and
+toward the end of 1802 the civil officer at New Orleans closed the
+Mississippi to the United States. Jefferson, at length moved by the plea
+of the South, sent a special envoy, no less a man than James Monroe, to
+France to negotiate the purchase; Bonaparte, disgusted by the failure
+of his Egyptian expedition and his project for reaching India, and
+especially by his failure in Santo Domingo, in need also of ready money,
+listened to the offer; and the people of the United States--who within
+the last few years have witnessed the spoliation of Hayti--have not yet
+realized how much they owe to the courage of 500,000 Haytian Negroes who
+refused to be slaves.
+
+The slavery question in the new territory was a critical one. It was
+on account of it that the Federalists had opposed the acquisition; the
+American Convention endeavored to secure a provision like that of the
+Northwest Ordinance; and the Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends in
+Philadelphia in 1805 prayed "that effectual measures may be adopted
+by Congress to prevent the introduction of slavery into any of the
+territories of the United States." Nevertheless the whole territory
+without regard to latitude was thrown open to the system March 2, 1805.
+
+In spite of this victory for slavery, however, the general force of the
+events in Hayti was such as to make more certain the formal closing
+of the slave-trade at the end of the twenty-year period for which the
+Constitution had permitted it to run. The conscience of the North had
+been profoundly stirred, and in the far South was the ever-present fear
+of a reproduction of the events in Hayti. The agitation in England
+moreover was at last about to bear fruit in the act of 1807 forbidding
+the slave-trade. In America it seems from the first to have been an
+understood thing, especially by the Southern representatives, that even
+if such an act passed it would be only irregularly enforced, and the
+debates were concerned rather with the disposal of illegally imported
+Africans and with the punishment of those concerned in the importation
+than with the proper limitation of the traffic by water.[1] On March 2,
+1807, the act was passed forbidding the slave-trade after the close of
+the year. In course of time it came very near to being a dead letter,
+as may be seen from presidential messages, reports of cabinet officers,
+letters of collectors of revenue, letters of district attorneys, reports
+of committees of Congress, reports of naval commanders, statements
+on the floor of Congress, the testimony of eye-witnesses, and the
+complaints of home and foreign anti-slavery societies. Fernandina and
+Galveston were only two of the most notorious ports for smuggling. A
+regular chain of posts was established from the head of St. Mary's River
+to the upper country, and through the Indian nation, by means of which
+the Negroes were transferred to every part of the country.[2] If dealers
+wished to form a caravan they would give an Indian alarm, so that the
+woods might be less frequented, and if pursued in Georgia they would
+escape into Florida. One small schooner contained one hundred and thirty
+souls. "They were almost packed into a small space, between a floor laid
+over the water-casks and the deck--not near three feet--insufficient for
+them to sit upright--and so close that chafing against each other their
+bones pierced the skin and became galled and ulcerated by the motion
+of the vessel." Many American vessels were engaged in the trade under
+Spanish colors, and the traffic to Africa was pursued with uncommon
+vigor at Havana, the crews of vessels being made up of men of all
+nations, who were tempted by the high wages to be earned. Evidently
+officials were negligent in the discharge of their duty, but even if
+offenders were apprehended it did not necessarily follow that they
+would receive effective punishment. President Madison in his message
+of December 5, 1810, said, "It appears that American citizens are
+instrumental in carrying on a traffic in enslaved Africans, equally in
+violation of the laws of humanity, and in defiance of those of their own
+country"; and on January 7, 1819, the Register of the Treasury made
+to the House the amazing report that "it doth not appear, from an
+examination of the records of this office, and particularly of the
+accounts (to the date of their last settlement) of the collectors of
+the customs, and of the several marshals of the United States, that any
+forfeitures had been incurred under the said act." A supplementary and
+compromising and ineffective act of 1818 sought to concentrate efforts
+against smuggling by encouraging informers; and one of the following
+year that authorized the President to "make such regulations and
+arrangements as he may deem expedient for the safe keeping, support, and
+removal beyond the limits of the United States" of recaptured Africans,
+and that bore somewhat more fruit, was in large measure due to the
+colonization movement and of importance in connection with the founding
+of Liberia.
+
+[Footnote 1: See DuBois, 95, ff.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Niles's _Register_, XIV, 176 (May 2, 1818).]
+
+Thus, while the formal closing of the slave-trade might seem to be a
+great step forward, the laxness with which the decree was enforced
+places it definitely in the period of reaction.
+
+
+3. _Gabriel's Insurrection and the Rise of the Negro Problem_
+
+Gabriel's insurrection of 1800 was by no means the most formidable
+revolt that the Southern states witnessed. In design it certainly did
+not surpass the scope of the plot of Denmark Vesey twenty-two years
+later, and in actual achievement it was insignificant when compared not
+only with Nat Turner's insurrection but even with the uprisings sixty
+years before. At the last moment in fact a great storm that came up made
+the attempt to execute the plan a miserable failure. Nevertheless coming
+as it did so soon after the revolution in Hayti, and giving evidence
+of young and unselfish leadership, the plot was regarded as of
+extraordinary significance.
+
+Gabriel himself[1] was an intelligent slave only twenty-four years old,
+and his chief assistant was Jack Bowler, aged twenty-eight. Throughout
+the summer of 1800 he matured his plan, holding meetings at which a
+brother named Martin interpreted various texts from Scripture as bearing
+on the situation of the Negroes. His insurrection was finally set for
+the first day of September. It was well planned. The rendezvous was to
+be a brook six miles from Richmond. Under cover of night the force of
+1,100 was to march in three columns on the city, then a town of 8,000
+inhabitants, the right wing to seize the penitentiary building which had
+just been converted into an arsenal, while the left took possession of
+the powder-house. These two columns were to be armed with clubs, and
+while they were doing their work the central force, armed with muskets,
+knives, and pikes, was to begin the carnage, none being spared except
+the French, whom it is significant that the Negroes favored. In Richmond
+at the time there were not more than four or five hundred men with about
+thirty muskets; but in the arsenal were several thousand guns, and the
+powder-house was well stocked. Seizure of the mills was to guarantee the
+insurrectionists a food supply; and meanwhile in the country districts
+were the new harvests of corn, and flocks and herds were fat in the
+fields.
+
+[Footnote 1: His full name was Gabriel Prosser.]
+
+On the day appointed for the uprising Virginia witnessed such a storm
+as she had not seen in years. Bridges were carried away, and roads and
+plantations completely submerged. Brook Swamp, the strategic point for
+the Negroes, was inundated; and the country Negroes could not get
+into the city, nor could those in the city get out to the place of
+rendezvous. The force of more than a thousand dwindled to three hundred,
+and these, almost paralyzed by fear and superstition, were dismissed.
+Meanwhile a slave who did not wish to see his master killed divulged the
+plot, and all Richmond was soon in arms.
+
+A troop of United States cavalry was ordered to the city and arrests
+followed quickly. Three hundred dollars was offered by Governor Monroe
+for the arrest of Gabriel, and as much more for Jack Bowler. Bowler
+surrendered, but it took weeks to find Gabriel. Six men were convicted
+and condemned to be executed on September 12, and five more on September
+18. Gabriel was finally captured on September 24 at Norfolk on a vessel
+that had come from Richmond; he was convicted on October 3 and executed
+on October 7. He showed no disposition to dissemble as to his own plan;
+at the same time he said not one word that incriminated anybody else.
+After him twenty-four more men were executed; then it began to appear
+that some "mistakes" had been made and the killing ceased. About the
+time of this uprising some Negroes were also assembled for an outbreak
+in Suffolk County; there were alarms in Petersburg and in the country
+near Edenton, N.C.; and as far away as Charleston the excitement was
+intense.
+
+There were at least three other Negro insurrections of importance in the
+period 1790-1820. When news came of the uprising of the slaves in Santo
+Domingo in 1791, the Negroes in Louisiana planned a similar effort.[1]
+They might have succeeded better if they had not disagreed as to the
+hour of the outbreak, when one of them informed the commandant. As a
+punishment twenty-three of the slaves were hanged along the banks of the
+river and their corpses left dangling for days; but three white men who
+assisted them and who were really the most guilty of all, were simply
+sent out of the colony. In Camden, S. C, on July 4, 1816, some other
+Negroes risked all for independence.[2] On various pretexts men from the
+country districts were invited to the town on the appointed night, and
+different commands were assigned, all except that of commander-in-chief,
+which position was to be given to him who first forced the gates of the
+arsenal. Again the plot was divulged by "a favorite and confidential
+slave," of whom we are told that the state legislature purchased the
+freedom, settling upon him a pension for life. About six of the leaders
+were executed. On or about May 1, 1819, there was a plot to destroy the
+city of Augusta, Ga.[3] The insurrectionists were to assemble at Beach
+Island, proceed to Augusta, set fire to the place, and then destroy the
+inhabitants. Guards were posted, and a white man who did not answer when
+hailed was shot and fatally wounded. A Negro named Coot was tried as
+being at the head of the conspiracy and sentenced to be executed a few
+days later. Other trials followed his. Not a muscle moved when the
+verdict was pronounced upon him.
+
+[Footnote 1: Gayarré: _History of Louisiana_, III, 355.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Holland: _Refutation of Calumnies_.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Niles's _Register_, XVI, 213 (May 22, 1819).]
+
+The deeper meaning of such events as these could not escape the
+discerning. More than one patriot had to wonder just whither the
+country was drifting. Already it was evident that the ultimate problem
+transcended the mere question of slavery, and many knew that human
+beings could not always be confined to an artificial status. Throughout
+the period the slave-trade seemed to flourish without any real check,
+and it was even accentuated by the return to power of the old royalist
+houses of Europe after the fall of Napoleon. Meanwhile it was observed
+that slave labor was driving out of the South the white man of small
+means, and antagonism between the men of the "up-country" and the
+seaboard capitalists was brewing. The ordinary social life of the Negro
+in the South left much to be desired, and conditions were not improved
+by the rapid increase. As for slavery itself, no one could tell when or
+where or how the system would end; all only knew that it was developing
+apace: and meanwhile there was the sinister possibility of the alliance
+of the Negro and the Indian. Sincere plans of gradual abolition were
+advanced in the South as well as the North, but in the lower section
+they seldom got more than a respectful hearing. In his "Dissertation on
+Slavery, with a Proposal for the Gradual Abolition of it in the State of
+Virginia," St. George Tucker, a professor of law in the University
+of William and Mary, and one of the judges of the General Court of
+Virginia, in 1796 advanced a plan by which he figured that after sixty
+years there would be only one-third as many slaves as at first. At
+this distance his proposal seems extremely conservative; at the time,
+however, it was laid on the table by the Virginia House of Delegates,
+and from the Senate the author received merely "a civil acknowledgment."
+
+Two men of the period--widely different in temper and tone, but
+both earnest seekers after truth--looked forward to the future with
+foreboding, one with the eye of the scientist, the other with the vision
+of the seer. Hezekiah Niles had full sympathy with the groping and
+striving of the South; but he insisted that slavery must ultimately be
+abolished throughout the country, that the minds of the slaves should
+be exalted, and that reasonable encouragement should be given free
+Negroes.[1] Said he: "_We are ashamed of the thing we practice_;...
+there is no attribute of heaven that takes part with us, and _we know
+it_. And in the contest that must come and _will come_, there will be a
+heap of sorrows such as the world has rarely seen."[2]
+
+[Footnote 1: _Register_, XVI, 177 (May 8, 1819).]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., XVI, 213 (May 22, 1819).]
+
+On the other hand rose Lorenzo Dow, the foremost itinerant preacher of
+the time, the first Protestant who expounded the gospel in Alabama and
+Mississippi, and a reformer who at the very moment that cotton was
+beginning to be supreme, presumed to tell the South that slavery was
+wrong.[1] Everywhere he arrested attention--with his long hair, his
+harsh voice, and his wild gesticulation startling all conservative
+hearers. But he was made in the mold of heroes. In his lifetime he
+traveled not less than two hundred thousand miles, preaching to more
+people than any other man of his time. Several times he went to Canada,
+once to the West Indies, and three times to England, everywhere drawing
+great crowds about him. In _A Cry from the Wilderness_ he more than
+once clothed his thought in enigmatic garb, but the meaning was always
+ultimately clear. At this distance, when slavery and the Civil War are
+alike viewed in the perspective, the words of the oracle are almost
+uncanny: "In the rest of the Southern states the influence of these
+Foreigners will be known and felt in its time, and the seeds from the
+HORY ALLIANCE and the DECAPIGANDI, who have a hand in those grades of
+Generals, from the Inquisitor to the Vicar General and down...!!! The
+STRUGGLE will be DREADFUL! the CUP will be BITTER! and when the agony is
+over, those who survive may see better days! FAREWELL!"
+
+[Footnote 1: For full study see article "Lorenzo Dow," in _Methodist
+Review_ and _Journal of Negro History_, July, 1916, the same being
+included in _Africa and the War_, New York, 1918.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+INDIAN AND NEGRO
+
+
+It is not the purpose of the present chapter to give a history of the
+Seminole Wars, or even to trace fully the connection of the Negro with
+these contests. We do hope to show at least, however, that the Negro was
+more important than anything else as an immediate cause of controversy,
+though the general pressure of the white man upon the Indian would
+in time of course have made trouble in any case. Strange parallels
+constantly present themselves, and incidentally it may be seen that the
+policy of the Government in force in other and even later years with
+reference to the Negro was at this time also very largely applied in the
+case of the Indian.
+
+
+1. _Creek, Seminole, and Negro to 1817: The War of 1812_
+
+On August 7, 1786, the Continental Congress by a definite and
+far-reaching ordinance sought to regulate for the future the whole
+conduct of Indian affairs. Two great districts were formed, one
+including the territory north of the Ohio and west of the Hudson, and
+the other including that south of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi;
+and for anything pertaining to the Indian in each of these two great
+tracts a superintendent was appointed. As affecting the Negro the
+southern district was naturally of vastly more importance than the
+northern. In the eastern portion of this, mainly in what are now
+Georgia, eastern Tennessee, and eastern Alabama, were the Cherokees
+and the great confederacy of the Creeks, while toward the west, in the
+present Mississippi and western Alabama, were the Chickasaws and the
+Choctaws. Of Muskhogean stock, and originally a part of the Creeks, were
+the Seminoles ("runaways"), who about 1750, under the leadership of a
+great chieftain, Secoffee, separated from the main confederacy, which
+had its center in southwest Georgia just a little south of Columbus, and
+overran the peninsula of Florida. In 1808 came another band under Micco
+Hadjo to the present site of Tallahassee. The Mickasukie tribe was
+already on the ground in the vicinity of this town, and at first its
+members objected to the newcomers, who threatened to take their lands
+from them; but at length all abode peaceably together under the general
+name of Seminoles. About 1810 these people had twenty towns, the chief
+ones being Mikasuki and Tallahassee. From the very first they had
+received occasional additions from the Yemassee, who had been driven out
+of South Carolina, and of fugitive Negroes.
+
+By the close of the eighteenth century all along the frontier the Indian
+had begun to feel keenly the pressure of the white man, and in his
+struggle with the invader he recognized in the oppressed Negro a natural
+ally. Those Negroes who by any chance became free were welcomed by the
+Indians, fugitives from bondage found refuge with them, and while
+Indian chiefs commonly owned slaves, the variety of servitude was very
+different from that under the white man. The Negroes were comparatively
+free, and intermarriage was frequent; thus a mulatto woman who fled
+from bondage married a chief and became the mother of a daughter who in
+course of time became the wife of the famous Osceola. This very close
+connection of the Negro with the family life of the Indian was the
+determining factor in the resistance of the Seminoles to the demands of
+the agents of the United States, and a reason, stronger even than his
+love for his old hunting-ground, for his objection to removal to new
+lands beyond the Mississippi. Very frequently the Indian could not give
+up his Negroes without seeing his own wife and children led away into
+bondage; and thus to native courage and pride was added the instinct of
+a father for the preservation of his own.
+
+In the two wars between the Americans and the English it was but natural
+that the Indian should side with the English, and it was in some measure
+but a part of the game that he should receive little consideration at
+the hands of the victor. In the politics played by the English and the
+French, the English and the Spaniards, and finally between the Americans
+and all Europeans, the Indian was ever the loser. In the very early
+years of the Carolina colonies, some effort was made to enslave the
+Indians; but such servants soon made their way to the Indian country,
+and it was not long before they taught the Negroes to do likewise. This
+constant escape of slaves, with its attendant difficulties, largely
+accounted for the establishing of the free colony of Georgia between
+South Carolina and the Spanish possession, Florida. It was soon evident,
+however, that the problem had been aggravated rather than settled. When
+Congress met in 1776 it received from Georgia a communication setting
+forth the need of "preventing slaves from deserting their masters"; and
+as soon as the Federal Government was organized in 1789 it received also
+from Georgia an urgent request for protection from the Creeks, who were
+charged with various ravages, and among other documents presented was
+a list of one hundred and ten Negroes who were said to have left their
+masters during the Revolution and to have found refuge among the Creeks.
+Meanwhile by various treaties, written and unwritten, the Creeks were
+being forced toward the western line of the state, and in any agreement
+the outstanding stipulation was always for the return of fugitive
+slaves. For a number of years the Creeks retreated without definitely
+organized resistance. In the course of the War of 1812, however, moved
+by the English and by a visit from Tecumseh, they suddenly rose, and on
+August 30, 1813, under the leadership of Weathersford, they attacked
+Fort Mims, a stockade thirty-five miles north of Mobile. The five
+hundred and fifty-three men, women, and children in this place were
+almost completely massacred. Only fifteen white persons escaped by
+hiding in the woods, a number of Negroes being taken prisoner. This
+occurrence spurred the whole Southwest to action. Volunteers were called
+for, and the Tennessee legislature resolved to exterminate the whole
+tribe. Andrew Jackson with Colonel Coffee administered decisive defeats
+at Talladega and Tohopeka or Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River, and
+the Creeks were forced to sue for peace. By the treaty of Fort Jackson
+(August 9, 1814) the future president, now a major general in the
+regular army and in command at Mobile, demanded that the unhappy nation
+give up more than half of its land as indemnity for the cost of the war,
+that it hold no communication with a Spanish garrison or town, that it
+permit the necessary roads to be made or forts to be built in any part
+of the territory, and that it surrender the prophets who had instigated
+the war. This last demand was ridiculous, or only for moral effect,
+for the so-called prophets had already been left dead on the field of
+battle. The Creeks were quite broken, however, and Jackson passed on to
+fame and destiny at the Battle of New Orleans, January 8, 1815. In April
+of this year he was made commander-in-chief of the Southern Division.[1]
+It soon developed that his chief task in this capacity was to reckon
+with the Seminoles.
+
+[Footnote 1: In his official capacity Jackson issued two addresses which
+have an important place in the history of the Negro soldier. From his
+headquarters at Mobile, September 21, 1814, he issued an appeal "To the
+Free Colored Inhabitants of Louisiana," offering them an honorable part
+in the war, and this was later followed by a "Proclamation to the
+Free People of Color" congratulating them on their achievement. Both
+addresses are accessible in many books.]
+
+On the Appalachicola River the British had rebuilt an old fort, calling
+it the British Post on the Appalachicola. Early in the summer of 1815
+the commander, Nicholls, had occasion to go to London, and he took with
+him his troops, the chief Francis, and several Creeks, leaving in the
+fort seven hundred and sixty-three barrels of cannon powder, twenty-five
+hundred muskets, and numerous pistols and other weapons of war. The
+Negroes from Georgia who had come to the vicinity, who numbered not less
+than a thousand, and who had some well kept farms up and down the
+banks of the river, now took charge of the fort and made it their
+headquarters. They were joined by some Creeks, and the so-called Negro
+Fort soon caused itself to be greatly feared by any white people
+who happened to live near. Demands on the Spanish governor for its
+suppression were followed by threats of the use of the soldiery of the
+United States; and General Gaines, under orders in the section, wrote to
+Jackson asking authority to build near the boundary another post that
+might be used as the base for any movement that had as its aim to
+overawe the Negroes. Jackson readily complied with the request, saying,
+"I have no doubt that this fort has been established by some villains
+for the purpose of murder, rapine, and plunder, and that it ought to be
+blown up regardless of the ground it stands on. If you have come to the
+same conclusion, destroy it, and restore the stolen Negroes and property
+to their rightful owners." Gaines accordingly built Fort Scott not
+far from where the Flint and the Chattahoochee join to form the
+Appalachicola. It was necessary for Gaines to pass the Negro Fort in
+bringing supplies to his own men; and on July 17, 1816, the boats of the
+Americans were within range of the fort and opened fire. There was some
+preliminary shooting, and then, since the walls were too stubborn to be
+battered down by a light fire, "a ball made red-hot in the cook's
+galley was put in the gun and sent screaming over the wall and into the
+magazine. The roar, the shock, the scene that followed, may be imagined,
+but not described. Seven hundred barrels of gunpowder tore the earth,
+the fort, and all the wretched creatures in it to fragments. Two hundred
+and seventy men, women, and children died on the spot. Of sixty-four
+taken out alive, the greater number died soon after."[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: McMaster, IV, 431.]
+
+The Seminoles--in the West more and more identified with the
+Creeks--were angered by their failure to recover the lands lost by the
+treaty of Fort Jackson and also by the building of Fort Scott. One
+settlement, Fowltown, fifteen miles east of Fort Scott, was especially
+excited and in the fall of 1817 sent a warning to the Americans "not
+to cross or cut a stick of timber on the east side of the Flint." The
+warning was regarded as a challenge; Fowltown was taken on a morning in
+November, and the Seminole Wars had begun.
+
+
+2. _First Seminole War and the Treaties of Indian Spring and Fort
+Moultrie_
+
+In the course of the First Seminole War (1817-18) Jackson ruthlessly
+laid waste the towns of the Indians; he also took Pensacola, and he
+awakened international difficulties by his rather summary execution of
+two British subjects, Arbuthnot and Ambrister, who were traders to the
+Indians and sustained generally pleasant relations with them. For his
+conduct, especially in this last instance, he was severely criticized in
+Congress, but it is significant of his rising popularity that no formal
+vote of censure could pass against him. On the cession of Florida to the
+United States he was appointed territorial governor; but he served for a
+brief term only. As early as 1822 he was nominated for the presidency
+by the legislature of Tennessee, and in 1823 he was sent to the United
+States Senate.
+
+Of special importance in the history of the Creeks about this time was
+the treaty of Indian Spring, of January 8, 1821, an iniquitous agreement
+in the signing of which bribery and firewater were more than usually
+present. By this the Creeks ceded to the United States, for the benefit
+of Georgia, five million acres of their most valuable land. In cash they
+were to receive $200,000, in payments extending over fourteen years. The
+United States Government moreover was to hold $250,000 as a fund from
+which the citizens of Georgia were to be reimbursed for any "claims"
+(for runaway slaves of course) that the citizens of the state had
+against the Creeks prior to the year 1802.[1] In the actual execution of
+this agreement a slave was frequently estimated at two or three times
+his real value, and the Creeks were expected to pay whether the fugitive
+was with them or not. All possible claims, however, amounted to
+$101,000. This left $149,000 of the money in the hands of the
+Government. This sum was not turned over to the Indians, as one might
+have expected, but retained until 1834, when the Georgia citizens
+interested petitioned for a division. The request was referred to the
+Commission on Indian Affairs, and the chairman, Gilmer of Georgia, was
+in favor of dividing the money among the petitioners as compensation for
+"the offspring which the slaves would have borne had they remained in
+bondage." This suggestion was rejected at the time, but afterwards the
+division was made nevertheless; and history records few more flagrant
+violations of all principles of honor and justice.
+
+[Footnote 1: See J.R. Giddings: _The Exiles of Florida_, 63-66; also
+speech in House of Representatives February 9, 1841.]
+
+The First Seminole War, while in some ways disastrous to the Indians,
+was in fact not much more than the preliminary skirmish of a conflict
+that was not to cease until 1842. In general the Indians, mindful of the
+ravages of the War of 1812, did not fully commit themselves and bided
+their time. They were in fact so much under cover that they led the
+Americans to underestimate their real numbers. When the cession of
+Florida was formally completed, however (July 17, 1821), they were found
+to be on the very best spots of land in the territory. On May 20, 1822,
+Colonel Gad Humphreys was appointed agent to them, William P. Duval as
+governor of the territory being ex-officio superintendent of Indian
+affairs. Altogether the Indians at this time, according to the official
+count, numbered 1,594 men, 1,357 women, and 993 children, a total of
+3,944, with 150 Negro men and 650 Negro women and children.[1] In the
+interest of these people Humphreys labored faithfully for eight years,
+and not a little of the comparative quiet in his period of service is to
+be credited to his own sympathy, good sense, and patience.
+
+[Footnote 1: Sprague, 19.]
+
+In the spring of 1823 the Indians were surprised by the suggestion of a
+treaty that would definitely limit their boundaries and outline their
+future relations with the white man. The representative chiefs had
+no desire for a conference, were exceedingly reluctant to meet the
+commissioners, and finally came to the meeting prompted only by the hope
+that such terms might be arrived at as would permanently guarantee them
+in the peaceable possession of their homes. Over the very strong protest
+of some of them a treaty was signed at Fort Moultrie, on the coast five
+miles below St. Augustine, September 18, 1823, William P. Duval, James
+Gadsden, and Bernard Segui being the representatives of the United
+States. By this treaty we learn that the Indians, in view of the fact
+that they have "thrown themselves on, and have promised to continue
+under, the protection of the United States, and of no other nation,
+power, or sovereignty; and in consideration of the promises and
+stipulations hereinafter made, do cede and relinquish all claim or title
+which they have to the whole territory of Florida, with the exception of
+such district of country as shall herein be allotted to them." They are
+to have restricted boundaries, the extreme point of which is nowhere to
+be nearer than fifteen miles to the Gulf of Mexico. The United States
+promises to distribute, as soon as the Indians are settled on their new
+land, under the direction of their agent, "implements of husbandry, and
+stock of cattle and hogs to the amount of six thousand dollars, and an
+annual sum of five thousand dollars a year for twenty successive years";
+and "to restrain and prevent all white persons from hunting, settling,
+or otherwise intruding" upon the land set apart for the Indians, though
+any American citizen, lawfully authorized, is to pass and repass
+within the said district and navigate the waters thereof "without any
+hindrance, toll or exactions from said tribes." For facilitating removal
+and as compensation for any losses or inconvenience sustained, the
+United States is to furnish rations of corn, meat, and salt for twelve
+months, with a special appropriation of $4,500 for those who have made
+improvements, and $2,000 more for the facilitating of transportation.
+The agent, sub-agent, and interpreter are to reside within the Indian
+boundary "to watch over the interests of said tribes"; and the United
+States further undertake "as an evidence of their humane policy
+towards said tribes" to allow $1,000 a year for twenty years for the
+establishment of a school and $1,000 a year for the same period for the
+support of a gun- and blacksmith. Of supreme importance is Article 7:
+"The chiefs and warriors aforesaid, for themselves and tribes, stipulate
+to be active and vigilant in the preventing the retreating to, or
+passing through, the district of country assigned them, of any
+absconding slaves, or fugitives from justice; and further agree to use
+all necessary exertions to apprehend and deliver the same to the agent,
+who shall receive orders to compensate them agreeably to the trouble and
+expense incurred." We have dwelt at length upon the provisions of this
+treaty because it contained all the seeds of future trouble between the
+white man and the Indian. Six prominent chiefs--Nea Mathla, John Blunt,
+Tuski Hajo, Mulatto King, Emathlochee, and Econchattimico--refused
+absolutely to sign, and their marks were not won until each was given
+a special reservation of from two to four square miles outside the
+Seminole boundaries. Old Nea Mathla in fact never did accept the treaty
+in good faith, and when the time came for the execution of the agreement
+he summoned his warriors to resistance. Governor Duval broke in upon his
+war council, deposed the war leaders, and elevated those who favored
+peaceful removal. The Seminoles now retired to their new lands, but Nea
+Mathla was driven into practical exile. He retired to the Creeks, by
+whom he was raised to the dignity of a chief. It was soon realized by
+the Seminoles that they had been restricted to some pine woods by no
+means as fertile as their old lands, nor were matters made better by one
+or two seasons of drought. To allay their discontent twenty square miles
+more, to the north, was given them, but to offset this new cession their
+rations were immediately reduced.
+
+
+3. _From the Treaty of Fort Moultrie to the Treaty of Payne's Landing_
+
+Now succeeded ten years of trespassing, of insult, and of increasing
+enmity. Kidnapers constantly lurked near the Indian possessions, and
+instances of injury unredressed increased the bitterness and rancor.
+Under date May 20, 1825, Humphreys[1] wrote to the Indian Bureau that
+the white settlers were already thronging to the vicinity of the Indian
+reservation and were likely to become troublesome. As to some recent
+disturbances, writing from St. Augustine February 9, 1825, he said:
+"From all I can learn here there is little doubt that the disturbances
+near Tallahassee, which have of late occasioned so much clamor, were
+brought about by a course of unjustifiable conduct on the part of
+the whites, similar to that which it appears to be the object of the
+territorial legislature to legalize. In fact, it is stated that one
+Indian had been so severely whipped by the head of the family which was
+destroyed in these disturbances, as to cause his death; if such be the
+fact, the subsequent act of the Indians, however lamentable, must be
+considered as one of retaliation, and I can not but think it is to
+be deplored that they were afterwards 'hunted' with so unrelenting a
+revenge." The word _hunted_ was used advisedly by Humphreys, for, as
+we shall see later, when war was renewed one of the common means of
+fighting employed by the American officers was the use of bloodhounds.
+Sometimes guns were taken from the Indians so that they had nothing with
+which to pursue the chase. On one occasion, when some Indians were being
+marched to headquarters, a woman far advanced in pregnancy was forced
+onward with such precipitancy as to produce a premature delivery, which
+almost terminated her life. More far-reaching than anything else,
+however, was the constant denial of the rights of the Indian in court
+in cases involving white men. As Humphreys said, the great disadvantage
+under which the Seminoles labored as witnesses "destroyed everything
+like equality of rights." Some of the Negroes that they had, had been
+born among them, and some others had been purchased from white men
+and duly paid for. No receipts were given, however, and efforts were
+frequently made to recapture the Negroes by force. The Indian, conscious
+of his rights, protested earnestly against such attempts and naturally
+determined to resist all efforts to wrest from him his rightfully
+acquired property.
+
+[Footnote 1: The correspondence is readily accessible in Sprague,
+30-37.]
+
+By 1827, however, the territorial legislature had begun to memorialize
+Congress and to ask for the complete removal of the Indians. Meanwhile
+the Negro question was becoming more prominent, and orders from the
+Department of War, increasingly peremptory, were made on Humphreys for
+the return of definite Negroes. For Duval and Humphreys, however, who
+had actually to execute the commissions, the task was not always so
+easy. Under date March 20, 1827, the former wrote to the latter: "Many
+of the slaves belonging to the whites are now in the possession of the
+white people; these slaves can not be obtained for their Indian owners
+without a lawsuit, and I see no reason why the Indians shall be
+compelled to surrender all slaves claimed by our citizens when this
+surrender is not mutual." Meanwhile the annuity began to be withheld
+from the Indians in order to force them to return Negroes, and a
+friendly chief, Hicks, constantly waited upon Humphreys only to find the
+agent little more powerful than himself. Thus matters continued through
+1829 and 1830. In violation of all legal procedure, the Indians were
+constantly _required to relinquish beforehand property in their
+possession to settle a question of claim_. On March 21, 1830, Humphreys
+was informed that he was no longer agent for the Indians. He had been
+honestly devoted to the interest of these people, but his efforts were
+not in harmony with the policy of the new administration.
+
+Just what that policy was may be seen from Jackson's special message
+on Indian affairs of February 22, 1831. The Senate had asked for
+information as to the conduct of the Government in connection with the
+act of March 30, 1802, "to regulate trade and intercourse with the
+Indian tribes and to preserve peace on the frontiers." The Nullification
+controversy was in everybody's mind, and already friction had arisen
+between the new President and the abolitionists. In spite of Jackson's
+attitude toward South Carolina, his message in the present instance was
+a careful defense of the whole theory of state rights. Nothing in the
+conduct of the Federal Government toward the Indian tribes, he insisted,
+had ever been intended to attack or even to call in question the rights
+of a sovereign state. In one way the Southern states had seemed to be an
+exception. "As early as 1784 the settlements within the limits of North
+Carolina were advanced farther to the west than the authority of the
+state to enforce an obedience of its laws." After the Revolution the
+tribes desolated the frontiers. "Under these circumstances the first
+treaties, in 1785 and 1790, with the Cherokees, were concluded by the
+Government of the United States." Nothing of all this, said Jackson, had
+in any way affected the relation of any Indians to the state in which
+they happened to reside, and he concluded as follows: "Toward this race
+of people I entertain the kindest feelings, and am not sensible that the
+views which I have taken of their true interests are less favorable to
+them than those which oppose their emigration to the West. Years since I
+stated to them my belief that if the States chose to extend their laws
+over them it would not be in the power of the Federal Government to
+prevent it. My opinion remains the same, and I can see no alternative
+for them but that of their removal to the West or a quiet submission to
+the state laws. If they prefer to remove, the United States agree to
+defray their expenses, to supply them the means of transportation and a
+year's support after they reach their new homes--a provision too liberal
+and kind to bear the stamp of injustice. Either course promises them
+peace and happiness, whilst an obstinate perseverance in the effort to
+maintain their possessions independent of the state authority can not
+fail to render their condition still more helpless and miserable. Such
+an effort ought, therefore, to be discountenanced by all who sincerely
+sympathize in the fortunes of this peculiar people, and especially by
+the political bodies of the Union, as calculated to disturb the harmony
+of the two Governments and to endanger the safety of the many blessings
+which they enable us to enjoy."
+
+The policy thus formally enunciated was already in practical operation.
+In the closing days of the administration of John Quincy Adams a
+delegation came to Washington to present to the administration the
+grievances of the Cherokee nation. The formal reception of the
+delegation fell to the lot of Eaton, the new Secretary of War. The
+Cherokees asserted that not only did they have no rights in the Georgia
+courts in cases involving white men, but that they had been notified by
+Georgia that all laws, usages, and agreements in force in the Indian
+country would be null and void after June 1, 1830; and naturally they
+wanted the interposition of the Federal Government. Eaton replied at
+great length, reminding the Cherokees that they had taken sides with
+England in the War of 1812, that they were now on American soil only by
+sufferance, and that the central government could not violate the rights
+of the state of Georgia; and he strongly advised immediate removal to
+the West. The Cherokees, quite broken, acted in accord with this advice;
+and so in 1832 did the Creeks, to whom Jackson had sent a special talk
+urging removal as the only basis of Federal protection.
+
+To the Seminoles as early as 1827 overtures for removal had been made;
+but before the treaty of Fort Moultrie had really become effective they
+had been intruded upon and they in turn had become more slow about
+returning runaway slaves. From some of the clauses in the treaty of
+Fort Moultrie, as some of the chiefs were quick to point out, the
+understanding was that the same was to be in force for twenty years; and
+they felt that any slowness on their part about the return of Negroes
+was fully nullified by the efforts of the professional Negro stealers
+with whom they had to deal.
+
+Early in 1832, however, Colonel James Gadsden of Florida was directed
+by Lewis Cass, the Secretary of War, to enter into negotiation for the
+removal of the Indians of Florida. There was great opposition to a
+conference, but the Indians were finally brought together at Payne's
+Landing on the Ocklawaha River just seventeen miles from Fort King.
+Here on May 9, 1832, was wrested from them a treaty which is of supreme
+importance in the history of the Seminoles. The full text was as
+follows:
+
+
+TREATY OF PAYNE'S LANDING,
+
+MAY 9, 1832
+
+    Whereas, a treaty between the United States and the Seminole nation
+    of Indians was made and concluded at Payne's Landing, on the
+    Ocklawaha River, on the 9th of May, one thousand eight hundred and
+    thirty-two, by James Gadsden, commissioner on the part of the United
+    States, and the chiefs and headmen of said Seminole nation of
+    Indians, on the part of said nation; which treaty is in the words
+    following, to wit:
+
+    The Seminole Indians, regarding with just respect the solicitude
+    manifested by the President of the United States for the improvement
+    of their condition, by recommending a removal to the country more
+    suitable to their habits and wants than the one they at present
+    occupy in the territory of Florida, are willing that their
+    confidential chiefs, Jumper, Fuch-a-lus-to-had-jo, Charley Emathla,
+    Coi-had-jo, Holati-Emathla, Ya-ha-had-jo, Sam Jones, accompanied
+    by their agent, Major John Phagan, and their faithful interpreter,
+    Abraham, should be sent, at the expense of the United States, as
+    early as convenient, to examine the country assigned to the Creeks,
+    west of the Mississippi River, and should they be satisfied with the
+    character of the country, and of the favorable disposition of the
+    Creeks to re-unite with the Seminoles as one people; the articles of
+    the compact and agreement herein stipulated, at Payne's Landing,
+    on the Ocklawaha River, this ninth day of May, one thousand eight
+    hundred and thirty-two, between James Gadsden, for and in behalf of
+    the government of the United States, and the undersigned chiefs and
+    headmen, for and in behalf of the Seminole Indians, shall be binding
+    on the respective parties.
+
+    Article I. The Seminole Indians relinquish to the United States
+    all claim to the land they at present occupy in the territory of
+    Florida, and agree to emigrate to the country assigned to the
+    Creeks, west of the Mississippi River, it being understood that an
+    additional extent of country, proportioned to their numbers, will
+    be added to the Creek territory, and that the Seminoles will be
+    received as a constituent part of the Creek nation, and be
+    re-admitted to all the privileges as a member of the same.
+
+    Article II. For and in consideration of the relinquishment of claim
+    in the first article of this agreement, and in full compensation for
+    all the improvements which may have been made on the lands thereby
+    ceded, the United States stipulate to pay to the Seminole Indians
+    fifteen thousand four hundred ($15,400) dollars, to be divided
+    among the chiefs and warriors of the several towns, in a ratio
+    proportioned to their population, the respective proportions of each
+    to be paid on their arrival in the country they consent to remove
+    to; it being understood that their faithful interpreters, Abraham
+    and Cudjo, shall receive two hundred dollars each, of the above sum,
+    in full remuneration of the improvements to be abandoned on the
+    lands now cultivated by them.
+
+    Article III. The United States agree to distribute, as they arrive
+    at their new homes in the Creek territory, west of the Mississippi
+    River, a blanket and a homespun frock to each of the warriors, women
+    and children, of the Seminole tribe of Indians.
+
+    Article IV. The United States agree to extend the annuity for the
+    support of a blacksmith, provided for in the sixth article of the
+    treaty at Camp Moultrie, for ten (10) years beyond the period
+    therein stipulated, and in addition to the other annuities secured
+    under that treaty, the United States agree to pay the sum of three
+    thousand ($3,000) dollars a year for fifteen (15) years, commencing
+    after the removal of the whole tribe; these sums to be added to the
+    Creek annuities, and the whole amount to be so divided that the
+    chiefs and warriors of the Seminole Indians may receive their
+    equitable proportion of the same, as members of the Creek
+    confederation.
+
+    Article V. The United States will take the cattle belonging to the
+    Seminoles, at the valuation of some discreet person, to be appointed
+    by the President, and the same shall be paid for in money to the
+    respective owners, after their arrival at their new homes; or other
+    cattle, such as may be desired, will be furnished them; notice being
+    given through their agent, of their wishes upon this subject, before
+    their removal, that time may be afforded to supply the demand.
+
+    Article VI. The Seminoles being anxious to be relieved from the
+    repeated vexatious demands for slaves, and other property, alleged
+    to have been stolen and destroyed by them, so that they may remove
+    unembarrassed to their new homes, the United States stipulate to
+    have the same property (properly) investigated, and to liquidate
+    such as may be satisfactorily established, provided the amount does
+    not exceed seven thousand ($7,000) dollars.
+
+    Article VII. The Seminole Indians will remove within three (3) years
+    after the ratification of this agreement, and the expenses of their
+    removal shall be defrayed by the United States, and such subsistence
+    shall also be furnished them, for a term not exceeding twelve (12)
+    months after their arrival at their new residence, as in the opinion
+    of the President their numbers and circumstances may require; the
+    emigration to commence as early as practicable in the year eighteen
+    hundred and thirty-three (1833), and with those Indians at present
+    occupying the Big Swamp, and other parts of the country beyond the
+    limits, as defined in the second article of the treaty concluded at
+    Camp Moultrie Creek, so that the whole of that proportion of
+    the Seminoles may be removed within the year aforesaid, and the
+    remainder of the tribe, in about equal proportions, during the
+    subsequent years of eighteen hundred and thirty-four and five (1834
+    and 1835).
+
+    In testimony whereof, the commissioner, James Gadsden, and the
+    undersigned chiefs and head-men of the Seminole Indians, have
+    hereunto subscribed their names and affixed their seals.
+
+    Done at camp, at Payne's Landing, on the Ocklawaha River, in the
+    territory of Florida, on this ninth day of May, one thousand eight
+    hundred and thirty-two, and of the independence of the United States
+    of America, the fifty-sixth.
+
+    (Signed) James Gadsden. L.S.
+    Holati Emathlar, his X mark.
+    Jumper, his X mark.
+    Cudjo, Interpreter, his X mark.
+    Erastus Rodgers.
+    B. Joscan.
+    Holati Emathlar, his X mark.
+    Jumper, his X mark.
+    Fuch-ta-lus-ta-Hadjo, his X mark.
+    Charley Emathla, his X mark.
+    Coi Hadjo, his X mark.
+    Ar-pi-uck-i, or Sam
+    Jones, his X mark.
+    Ya-ha-Hadjo, his X mark.
+    Mico-Noha, his X mark.
+    Tokose Emathla, or
+    John Hicks, his X mark.
+    Cat-sha-Tustenuggee, his X mark.
+    Holat-a-Micco, his X mark.
+    Hitch-it-i-Micco, his X mark.
+    E-na-hah, his X mark.
+    Ya-ha-Emathla-Chopco, his X mark.
+    Moki-his-she-lar-ni, his X mark.
+
+    Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Jackson, President of the
+    United States of America, having seen and considered said treaty,
+    do, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, as expressed
+    by their resolution of the eighth day of April, one thousand eight
+    hundred and thirty-four, accept, ratify, and confirm the same, and
+    every clause and article thereof.
+
+    In witness whereof, I have caused the seal of the United States to
+    be hereunto affixed, having signed the same with my hand. Done at
+    the city of Washington, this twelfth day of April, in the year of
+    our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, and of the
+    independence of the United States of America, the fifty-eighth.
+
+    (Signed) ANDREW JACKSON. By the President,
+    LOUIS MCLANE, Secretary of State.
+
+It will be seen that by the terms of this document seven chiefs were to
+go and examine the country assigned to the Creeks, and that they were to
+be accompanied by Major John Phagan, the successor of Humphreys, and the
+Negro interpreter Abraham. The character of Phagan may be seen from the
+facts that he was soon in debt to different ones of the Indians and to
+Abraham, and that he was found to be short in his accounts. While the
+Indian chiefs were in the West, three United States commissioners
+conferred with them as to the suitability of the country for a future
+home, and at Fort Gibson, Arkansas, March 28, 1833, they were beguiled
+into signing an additional treaty in which occurred the following
+sentence: "And the undersigned Seminole chiefs, delegated as aforesaid,
+on behalf of their nation, hereby declare themselves well satisfied with
+the location provided for them by the commissioners, and agree that
+their nation shall commence the removal to their new home as soon as the
+government will make arrangements for their emigration, satisfactory to
+the Seminole nation." They of course had no authority to act on their
+own initiative, and when all returned in April, 1833, and Phagan
+explained what had happened, the Seminoles expressed themselves in no
+uncertain terms. The chiefs who had gone West denied strenuously that
+they had signed away any rights to land, but they were nevertheless
+upbraided as the agents of deception. Some of the old chiefs, of whom
+Micanopy was the highest authority, resolved to resist the efforts to
+dispossess them; and John Hicks, who seems to have been substituted for
+Sam Jones on the commission, was killed because he argued too strongly
+for migration. Meanwhile the treaty of Payne's Landing was ratified by
+the Senate of the United States and proclaimed as in force by President
+Jackson April 12, 1834, and in connection with it the supplementary
+treaty of Fort Gibson was also ratified. The Seminoles, however, were
+not showing any haste about removing, and ninety of the white citizens
+of Alachua County sent a protest to the President alleging that the
+Indians were not returning their fugitive slaves. Jackson was made
+angry, and without even waiting for the formal ratification of the
+treaties, he sent the document to the Secretary of War, with an
+endorsement on the back directing him "to inquire into the alleged
+facts, and if found to be true, to direct the Seminoles to prepare to
+remove West and join the Creeks." General Wiley Thompson was appointed
+to succeed Phagan as agent, and General Duncan L. Clinch was placed in
+command of the troops whose services it was thought might be needed. It
+was at this juncture that Osceola stepped forward as the leading spirit
+of his people.
+
+
+4. _Osceola and the Second Seminole War_
+
+Osceola (Asseola, or As-se-he-ho-lar, sometimes called Powell because
+after his father's death his mother married a white man of that name[1])
+was not more than thirty years of age. He was slender, of only
+average height, and slightly round-shouldered; but he was also well
+proportioned, muscular, and capable of enduring great fatigue. He had
+light, deep, restless eyes, and a shrill voice, and he was a great
+admirer of order and technique. He excelled in athletic contests and in
+his earlier years had taken delight in engaging in military practice
+with the white men. As he was neither by descent nor formal election a
+chief, he was not expected to have a voice in important deliberations;
+but he was a natural leader and he did more than any other man to
+organize the Seminoles to resistance. It is hardly too much to say
+that to his single influence was due a contest that ultimately cost
+$10,000,000 and the loss of thousands of lives. Never did a patriot
+fight more valiantly for his own, and it stands to the eternal disgrace
+of the American arms that he was captured under a flag of truce.
+
+[Footnote 1: Hodge's _Handbook of American Indians_, II, 159.]
+
+It is well to pause for a moment and reflect upon some of the deeper
+motives that entered into the impending contest. A distinguished
+congressman,[1] speaking in the House of Representatives a few years
+later, touched eloquently upon some of the events of these troublous
+years. Let us remember that this was the time of the formation of
+anti-slavery societies, of pronounced activity on the part of the
+abolitionists, and recall also that Nat Turner's insurrection was still
+fresh in the public mind. Giddings stated clearly the issue as it
+appeared to the people of the North when he said, "I hold that if the
+slaves of Georgia or any other state leave their masters, the Federal
+Government has no constitutional authority to employ our army or navy
+for their recapture, or to apply the national treasure to repurchase
+them." There could be no question of the fact that the war was very
+largely one over fugitive slaves. Under date October 28, 1834, General
+Thompson wrote to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs: "There are many
+very likely Negroes in this nation [the Seminole]. Some of the whites in
+the adjacent settlements manifest a restless desire to obtain them, and
+I have no doubt that Indian raised Negroes are now in the possession
+of the whites." In a letter dated January 20, 1834, Governor Duval had
+already said to the same official: "The slaves belonging to the Indians
+have a controlling influence over the minds of their masters, and are
+entirely opposed to any change of residence." Six days later he wrote:
+"The slaves belonging to the Indians must be made to fear for themselves
+before they will cease to influence the minds of their masters.... The
+first step towards the emigration of these Indians must be the breaking
+up of the runaway slaves and the outlaw Indians." And the New Orleans
+_Courier_ of July 27, 1839, revealed all the fears of the period when it
+said, "Every day's delay in subduing the Seminoles increases the danger
+of a rising among the serviles."
+
+[Footnote 1: Joshua R. Giddings, of Ohio. His exhaustive speech on the
+Florida War was made February 9, 1841.]
+
+All the while injustice and injury to the Indians continued.
+Econchattimico, well known as one of those chiefs to whom special
+reservations had been given by the treaty of Fort Moultrie, was the
+owner of twenty slaves valued at $15,000. Observing Negro stealers
+hovering around his estate, he armed himself and his men. The kidnapers
+then furthered their designs by circulating the report that the Indians
+were arming themselves for union with the main body of Seminoles for the
+general purpose of massacring the white people. Face to face with
+this charge Econchattimico gave up his arms and threw himself on the
+protection of the government; and his Negroes were at once taken and
+sold into bondage.
+
+A similar case was that of John Walker, an Appalachicola chief, who
+wrote to Thompson under date July 28, 1835: "I am induced to write you
+in consequence of the depredations making and attempted to be made upon
+my property, by a company of Negro stealers, some of whom are from
+Columbus, Ga., and have connected themselves with Brown and Douglass....
+I should like your advice how I am to act. I dislike to make or to have
+any difficulty with the white people. But if they trespass upon my
+premises and my rights, I must defend myself the best way I can. If they
+do make this attempt, and I have no doubt they will, they must bear the
+consequences. _But is there no civil law to protect me_? Are the free
+Negroes and the Negroes belonging to this town to be stolen away
+publicly, and in the face of law and justice, carried off and sold to
+fill the pockets of these worse than land pirates? Douglass and his
+company hired a man who has two large trained dogs for the purpose to
+come down and take Billy. He is from Mobile and follows for a livelihood
+catching runaway Negroes."
+
+Such were the motives, fears and incidents in the years immediately
+after the treaty of Payne's Landing. Beginning at the close of 1834 and
+continuing through April, 1835, Thompson had a series of conferences
+with the Seminole chiefs. At these meetings Micanopy, influenced by
+Osceola and other young Seminoles, took a more definite stand than he
+might otherwise have assumed. Especially did he insist with reference
+to the treaty that he understood that the chiefs who went West were to
+_examine_ the country, and for his part he knew that when they returned
+they would report unfavorably. Thompson then, becoming angry, delivered
+an ultimatum to the effect that if the treaty was not observed the
+annuity from the great father in Washington would cease. To this,
+Osceola, stepping forward, replied that he and his warriors did not care
+if they never received another dollar from the great father, and drawing
+his knife, he plunged it in the table and said, "The only treaty I will
+execute is with this." Henceforward there was deadly enmity between the
+young Seminole and Thompson. More and more Osceola made his personality
+felt, constantly asserting to the men of his nation that whoever
+recommended emigration was an enemy of the Seminoles, and he finally
+arrived at an understanding with many of them that the treaty would be
+resisted with their very lives. Thompson, however, on April 23, 1835,
+had a sort of secret conference with sixteen of the chiefs who seemed
+favorably disposed toward migration, and he persuaded them to sign a
+document "freely and fully" assenting to the treaties of Payne's Landing
+and Fort Gibson. The next day there was a formal meeting at which the
+agent, backed up by Clinch and his soldiers, upbraided the Indians in a
+very harsh manner. His words were met by groans, angry gesticulations,
+and only half-muffled imprecations. Clinch endeavored to appeal to the
+Indians and to advise them that resistance was both unwise and useless.
+Thompson, however, with his usual lack of tact, rushed onward in his
+course, and learning that five chiefs were unalterably opposed to the
+treaty, he arbitrarily struck their names off the roll of chiefs, an
+action the highhandedness of which was not lost on the Seminoles.
+Immediately after the conference moreover he forbade the sale of
+any more arms and powder to the Indians. To the friendly chiefs the
+understanding had been given that the nation might have until January
+1, 1836, to make preparation for removal, by which time all were to
+assemble at Fort Brooke, Tampa Bay, for emigration.
+
+About the first of June Osceola was one day on a quiet errand of trading
+at Fort King. With him was his wife, the daughter of a mulatto slave
+woman who had run away years before and married an Indian chief. By
+Southern law this woman followed the condition of her mother, and
+when the mother's former owner appeared on the scene and claimed the
+daughter, Thompson, who desired to teach Occeola a lesson, readily
+agreed that she should be remanded into captivity.[1] Osceola was highly
+enraged, and this time it was his turn to upbraid the agent. Thompson
+now had him overpowered and put in irons, in which situation he remained
+for the better part of two days. In this period of captivity his soul
+plotted revenge and at length he too planned a "_ruse de guerre_."
+Feigning assent to the treaty he told Thompson that if he was released
+not only would he sign himself but he would also bring his people to
+sign. The agent was completely deceived by Osceola's tactics. "True to
+his professions," wrote Thompson on June 3, "he this day appeared with
+seventy-nine of his people, men, women, and children, including some who
+had joined him since his conversion, and redeemed his promise. He told
+me many of his friends were out hunting, whom he could and would bring
+over on their return. I have now no doubt of his sincerity, and as
+little, that the greatest difficulty is surmounted."
+
+[Footnote 1: This highly important incident, which was really the spark
+that started the war, is absolutely ignored even by such well informed
+writers as Drake and Sprague. Drake simply gives the impression that
+the quarrel between Osceola and Thompson was over the old matter of
+emigration, saying (413), "Remonstrance soon grew into altercation,
+which ended in a _ruse de guerre_, by which Osceola was made prisoner by
+the agent, and put in irons, in which situation he was kept one night
+and part of two days." The story is told by McMaster, however. Also note
+M.M. Cohen as quoted in _Quarterly Anti-Slavery Magazine_, Vol. II, p.
+419 (July, 1837).]
+
+Osceola now rapidly urged forward preparations for war, which, however,
+he did not wish actually started until after the crops were gathered.
+By the fall he was ready, and one day in October when he and some other
+warriors met Charley Emathla, who had upon him the gold and silver that
+he had received from the sale of his cattle preparatory to migration,
+they killed this chief, and Osceola threw the money in every direction,
+saying that no one was to touch it, as it was the price of the red man's
+blood. The true drift of events became even more apparent to Thompson
+and Clinch in November, when five chiefs friendly to migration with five
+hundred of their people suddenly appeared at Fort Brooke to ask for
+protection. When in December Thompson sent final word to the Seminoles
+that they must bring in their horses and cattle, the Indians did not
+come on the appointed day; on the contrary they sent their women and
+children to the interior and girded themselves for battle. To Osceola
+late in the month a runner brought word that some troops under the
+command of Major Dade were to leave Fort Brooke on the 25th and on the
+night of the 27th were to be attacked by some Seminoles in the Wahoo
+Swamp. Osceola himself, with some of his men, was meanwhile lying in the
+woods near Fort King, waiting for an opportunity to kill Thompson. On
+the afternoon of the 28th the agent dined not far from the fort at the
+home of the sutler, a man named Rogers, and after dinner he walked
+with Lieutenant Smith to the crest of a neighboring hill. Here he was
+surprised by the Indians, and both he and Smith fell pierced by numerous
+bullets. The Indians then pressed on to the home of the sutler and
+killed Rogers, his two clerks, and a little boy. On the same day the
+command of Major Dade, including seven officers and one hundred and ten
+men, was almost completely annihilated, only three men escaping. Dade
+and his horse were killed at the first onset. These two attacks began
+the actual fighting of the Second Seminole War. That the Negroes were
+working shoulder to shoulder with the Indians in these encounters may
+be seen from the report of Captain Belton,[1] who said, "Lieut. Keays,
+third artillery, had both arms broken from the first shot; was unable
+to act, and was tomahawked the latter part of the second attack, by a
+Negro"; and further: "A Negro named Harry controls the Pea Band of about
+a hundred warriors, forty miles southeast of us, who have done most
+of the mischief, and keep this post constantly observed." Osceola now
+joined forces with those Indians who had attacked Dade, and in the
+early morning of the last day of the year occurred the Battle of
+Ouithlecoochee, a desperate encounter in which both Osceola and Clinch
+gave good accounts of themselves. Clinch had two hundred regulars and
+five or six hundred volunteers. The latter fled early in the contest and
+looked on from a distance; and Clinch had to work desperately to keep
+from duplicating the experience of Dade. Osceola himself was conspicuous
+in a red belt and three long feathers, but although twice wounded he
+seemed to bear a charmed life. He posted himself behind a tree, from
+which station he constantly sallied forth to kill or wound an enemy with
+almost infallible aim.
+
+[Footnote 1: Accessible in Drake, 416-418.]
+
+After these early encounters the fighting became more and more bitter
+and the contest more prolonged. Early in the war the disbursing agent
+reported that there were only three thousand Indians, including Negroes,
+to be considered; but this was clearly an understatement. Within the
+next year and a half the Indians were hard pressed, and before the end
+of this period the notorious Thomas S. Jessup had appeared on the scene
+as commanding major general. This man seems to have determined never to
+use honorable means of warfare if some ignoble instrument could serve
+his purpose. In a letter sent to Colonel Harvey from Tampa Bay under
+date May 25, 1837, he said: "If you see Powell (Osceola), tell him I
+shall send out and take all the Negroes who belong to the white people.
+And he must not allow the Indian Negroes to mix with them. Tell him I
+am sending to Cuba for bloodhounds to trail them; and I intend to hang
+every one of them who does not come in." And it might be remarked that
+for his bloodhounds Jessup spent--or said he spent--as much as $5,000, a
+fact which thoroughly aroused Giddings and other persons from the North,
+who by no means cared to see such an investment of public funds. By
+order No. 160, dated August 3, 1837, Jessup invited his soldiers to
+plunder and rapine, saying, "All Indian property captured from this date
+will belong to the corps or detachment making it." From St. Augustine,
+under date October 20, 1837, in a "confidential" communication he said
+to one of his lieutenants: "Should Powell and his warriors come within
+the fort, seize him and the whole party. It is important that he, Wild
+Cat, John Cowagee, and Tustenuggee, be secured. Hold them until you have
+my orders in relation to them."[1] Two days later he was able to write
+to the Secretary of War that Osceola was actually taken. Said he: "That
+chief came into the vicinity of Fort Peyton on the 20th, and sent a
+messenger to General Hernandez, desiring to see and converse with him.
+The sickly season being over, and there being no further necessity to
+temporize, I sent a party of mounted men, and seized the entire body,
+and now have them securely lodged in the fort." Osceola, Wild Cat,
+and others thus captured were marched to St. Augustine; but Wild Cat
+escaped. Osceola was ultimately taken to Fort Moultrie, in the harbor of
+Charleston, where in January (1838) he died.
+
+[Footnote 1: This correspondence, and much more bearing on the point,
+may be found in House Document 327 of the Second Session of the
+Twenty-fifth Congress.]
+
+Important in this general connection was the fate of the deputation that
+the influential John Ross, chief of the Cherokees, was persuaded to
+send from his nation to induce the Seminoles to think more favorably of
+migration. Micanopy, twelve other chieftains, and a number of warriors
+accompanied the Cherokee deputation to the headquarters of the United
+States Army at Fort Mellon, where they were to discuss the matter. These
+warriors also Jessup seized, and Ross wrote to the Secretary of War
+a dignified but bitter letter protesting against this "unprecedented
+violation of that sacred rule which has ever been recognized by every
+nation, civilized and uncivilized, of treating with all due respect
+those who had ever presented themselves under a flag of truce before the
+enemy, for the purpose of proposing the termination of warfare." He had
+indeed been most basely used as the agent of deception.
+
+This chapter, we trust, has shown something of the real nature of the
+points at issue in the Seminole Wars. In the course of these contests
+the rights of Indian and Negro alike were ruthlessly disregarded. There
+was redress for neither before the courts, and at the end in dealing
+with them every honorable principle of men and nations was violated. It
+is interesting that the three representatives of colored peoples who
+in the course of the nineteenth century it was most difficult to
+capture--Toussaint L'Ouverture, the Negro, Osceola, the Indian, and
+Aguinaldo, the Filipino--were all taken through treachery; and on two of
+the three occasions this treachery was practiced by responsible officers
+of the United States Army.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+EARLY APPROACH TO THE NEGRO PROBLEM
+
+
+1. The Ultimate Problem and the Missouri Compromise
+
+In a previous chapter[1] we have already indicated the rise of the Negro
+Problem in the last decade of the eighteenth and the first two decades
+of the nineteenth century. And what was the Negro Problem? It was
+certainly not merely a question of slavery; in the last analysis this
+institution was hardly more than an incident. Slavery has ceased to
+exist, but even to-day the Problem is with us. The question was rather
+what was to be the final place in the American body politic of the
+Negro population that was so rapidly increasing in the country. In the
+answering of this question supreme importance attached to the Negro
+himself; but the problem soon transcended the race. Ultimately it was
+the destiny of the United States rather than of the Negro that was to be
+considered, and all the ideals on which the country was based came to
+the testing. If one studied those ideals he soon realized that they were
+based on Teutonic or at least English foundations. By 1820, however, the
+young American republic was already beginning to be the hope of all
+of the oppressed people of Europe, and Greeks and Italians as well as
+Germans and Swedes were turning their faces toward the Promised Land.
+The whole background of Latin culture was different from the Teutonic,
+and yet the people of Southern as well as of Northern Europe somehow
+became a part of the life of the United States. In this life was it also
+possible for the children of Africa to have a permanent and an honorable
+place? With their special tradition and gifts, with their shortcomings,
+above all with their distinctive color, could they, too, become genuine
+American citizens? Some said No, but in taking this position they denied
+not only the ideals on which the country was founded but also the
+possibilities of human nature itself. In any case the answer to the
+first question at once suggested another, What shall we do with the
+Negro? About this there was very great difference of opinion, it not
+always being supposed that the Negro himself had anything whatever to
+say about the matter. Some said send the Negro away, get rid of him by
+any means whatsoever; others said if he must stay, keep him in slavery;
+still others said not to keep him permanently in slavery, but emancipate
+him only gradually; and already there were beginning to be persons who
+felt that the Negro should be emancipated everywhere immediately, and
+that after this great event had taken place he and the nation together
+should work out his salvation on the broadest possible plane.
+
+[Footnote 1: IV, Section 3.]
+
+Into the agitation was suddenly thrust the application of Missouri for
+entrance into the Union as a slave state. The struggle that followed
+for two years was primarily a political one, but in the course of the
+discussion the evils of slavery were fully considered. Meanwhile, in
+1819, Alabama and Maine also applied for admission. Alabama was allowed
+to enter without much discussion, as she made equal the number of slave
+and free states. Maine, however, brought forth more talk. The Southern
+congressmen would have been perfectly willing to admit this as a free
+state if Missouri had been admitted as a slave state; but the North felt
+that this would have been to concede altogether too much, as Missouri
+from the first gave promise of being unusually important. At length,
+largely through the influence of Henry Clay, there was adopted a
+compromise whose main provisions were (1) that Maine was to be admitted
+as a free state; (2) that in Missouri there was to be no prohibition of
+slavery; but (3) that slavery was to be prohibited in any other states
+that might be formed out of the Louisiana Purchase north of the line of
+36° 30'.
+
+By this agreement the strife was allayed for some years; but it is now
+evident that the Missouri Compromise was only a postponement of the
+ultimate contest and that the social questions involved were hardly
+touched. Certainly the significance of the first clear drawing of the
+line between the sections was not lost upon thoughtful men. Jefferson
+wrote from Monticello in 1820: "This momentous question, like a
+fire-bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered
+it at once as the knell of the Union. It is hushed, indeed, for the
+moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence.... I can
+say, with conscious truth, that there is not a man on earth who would
+sacrifice more than I would to relieve us from this heavy reproach, in
+any _practicable_ way. The cession of that kind of property, for so it
+is misnamed, is a bagatelle that would not cost me a second thought,
+if, in that way, a general emancipation and _expatriation_ could be
+effected; and, gradually, and with due sacrifices, I think it might
+be."[1] For the time being, however, the South was concerned mainly
+about immediate dangers; nor was this section placed more at ease by
+Denmark Vesey's attempted insurrection in 1822.[2] A representative
+South Carolinian,[3] writing after this event, said, "We regard our
+Negroes as the _Jacobins_ of the country, against whom we should always
+be upon our guard, and who, although we fear no permanent effects from
+any insurrectionary movements on their part, should be watched with an
+eye of steady and unremitted observation." Meanwhile from a ratio of
+43.72 to 56.28 in 1790 the total Negro population in South Carolina had
+by 1820 come to outnumber the white 52.77 to 47.23, and the tendency
+was increasingly in favor of the Negro. The South, the whole country in
+fact, was more and more being forced to consider not only slavery but
+the ultimate reaches of the problem.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Writings_, XV, 249.]
+
+[Footnote 2: See Chapter VII, Section 1.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Holland: _A Refutation of Calumnies_, 61.]
+
+Whatever one might think of the conclusion--and in this case the speaker
+was pleading for colonization--no statement of the problem as it
+impressed men about 1820 or 1830 was clearer than that of Rev. Dr. Nott,
+President of Union College, at Albany in 1829.[1] The question, said he,
+was by no means local. Slavery was once legalized in New England; and
+New England built slave-ships and manned these with New England seamen.
+In 1820 the slave population in the country amounted to 1,500,000. The
+number doubled every twenty years, and it was easy to see how it would
+progress from 1,500,000 to 3,000,000; to 6,000,000; to 12,000,000; to
+24,000,000. "Twenty-four millions of slaves! What a drawback from our
+strength; what a tax on our resources; what a hindrance to our growth;
+what a stain on our character; and what an impediment to the fulfillment
+of our destiny! Could our worst enemies or the worst enemies of
+republics, wish us a severer judgment?" How could one know that wakeful
+and sagacious enemies without would not discover the vulnerable point
+and use it for the country's overthrow? Or was there not danger that
+among a people goaded from age to age there might at length arise some
+second Toussaint L'Ouverture, who, reckless of consequences, would array
+a force and cause a movement throughout the zone of bondage, leaving
+behind him plantations waste and mansions desolate? Who could believe
+that such a tremendous physical force would remain forever spell-bound
+and quiescent? After all, however, slavery was doomed; public opinion
+had already pronounced upon it, and the moral energy of the nation would
+sooner or later effect its overthrow. "But," continued Nott, "the solemn
+question here arises--in what condition will this momentous change place
+us? The freed men of other countries have long since disappeared, having
+been amalgamated in the general mass. Here there can be no amalgamation.
+Our manumitted bondmen have remained already to the third and fourth, as
+they will to the thousandth generation--a distinct, a degraded, and a
+wretched race." After this sweeping statement, which has certainly not
+been justified by time, Nott proceeded to argue the expediency of his
+organization. Gerrit Smith, who later drifted away from colonization,
+said frankly on the same occasion that the ultimate solution was either
+amalgamation or colonization, and that of the two courses he preferred
+to choose the latter. Others felt as he did. We shall now accordingly
+proceed to consider at somewhat greater length the two solutions that
+about 1820 had the clearest advocates--Colonization and Slavery.
+
+[Footnote 1: See "African Colonization. Proceedings of the Formation of
+the New York State Colonization Society." Albany, 1829.]
+
+
+2. _Colonization_
+
+Early in 1773, Rev. Samuel Hopkins, of Newport, called on his friend,
+Rev. Ezra Stiles, afterwards President of Yale College, and suggested
+the possibility of educating Negro students, perhaps two at first, who
+would later go as missionaries to Africa. Stiles thought that for the
+plan to be worth while there should be a colony on the coast of Africa,
+that at least thirty or forty persons should go, and that the enterprise
+should not be private but should have the formal backing of a society
+organized for the purpose. In harmony with the original plan two young
+Negro men sailed from New York for Africa, November 12, 1774; but the
+Revolutionary War followed and nothing more was done at the time. In
+1784, however, and again in 1787, Hopkins tried to induce different
+merchants to fit out a vessel to convey a few emigrants, and in the
+latter year he talked with a young man from the West Indies, Dr. William
+Thornton, who expressed a willingness to take charge of the company.
+The enterprise failed for lack of funds, though Thornton kept up his
+interest and afterwards became a member of the first Board of Managers
+of the American Colonization Society. Hopkins in 1791 spoke before the
+Connecticut Emancipation Society, which he wished to see incorporated as
+a colonization society, and in a sermon before the Providence society in
+1793 he reverted to his favorite theme. Meanwhile, as a result of the
+efforts of Wilberforce, Clarkson, and Granville Sharp in England, in
+May, 1787, some four hundred Negroes and sixty white persons were landed
+at Sierra Leone. Some of the Negroes in England had gained their freedom
+in consequence of Lord Mansfield's decision in 1772, others had been
+discharged from the British Army after the American Revolution, and all
+were leading in England a more or less precarious existence. The sixty
+white persons sent along were abandoned women, and why Sierra Leone
+should have had this weight placed upon it at the start history has not
+yet told. It is not surprising to learn that "disease and disorder were
+rife, and by 1791 a mere handful survived."[1] As early as in his _Notes
+on Virginia_, privately printed in 1781, Thomas Jefferson had suggested
+a colony for Negroes, perhaps in the new territory of Ohio. The
+suggestion was not acted upon, but it is evident that by 1800 several
+persons had thought of the possibility of removing the Negroes in the
+South to some other place either within or without the country.
+
+[Footnote 1: McPherson, 15. (See bibliography on Liberia.)]
+
+Gabriel's insurrection in 1800 again forced the idea concretely forward.
+Virginia was visibly disturbed by this outbreak, and _in secret
+session_, on December 21, the House of Delegates passed the following
+resolution: "That the Governor[1] be requested to correspond with the
+President of the United States,[2] on the subject of purchasing land
+without the limits of this state, whither persons obnoxious to the laws,
+or dangerous to the peace of society may be removed." The real purpose
+of this resolution was to get rid of those Negroes who had had some part
+in the insurrection and had not been executed; but not in 1800, or in
+1802 or 1804, was the General Assembly thus able to banish those whom
+it was afraid to hang. Monroe, however, acted in accordance with his
+instructions, and Jefferson replied to him under date November 24, 1801.
+He was not now favorable to deportation to some place within the United
+States, and thought that the West Indies, probably Santo Domingo, might
+be better. There was little real danger that the exiles would stimulate
+vindictive or predatory descents on the American coasts, and in any case
+such a possibility was "overweighed by the humanity of the measures
+proposed." "Africa would offer a last and undoubted resort," thought
+Jefferson, "if all others more desirable should fail."[3] Six months
+later, on July 13, 1802, the President wrote about the matter to Rufus
+King, then minister in London. The course of events in the West Indies,
+he said, had given an impulse to the minds of Negroes in the United
+States; there was a disposition to insurgency, and it now seemed that if
+there was to be colonization, Africa was by all means the best place. An
+African company might also engage in commercial operations, and if there
+was coöperation with Sierra Leone, there was the possibility of "one
+strong, rather than two weak colonies." Would King accordingly enter
+into conference with the English officials with reference to disposing
+of any Negroes who might be sent? "It is material to observe," remarked
+Jefferson, "that they are not felons, or common malefactors, but persons
+guilty of what the safety of society, under actual circumstances,
+obliges us to treat as a crime, but which their feelings may represent
+in a far different shape. They are such as will be a valuable
+acquisition to the settlement already existing there, and well
+calculated to coöperate in the plan of civilization."[4] King
+accordingly opened correspondence with Thornton and Wedderbourne, the
+secretaries of the company having charge of Sierra Leone, but was
+informed that the colony was in a languishing condition and that funds
+were likely to fail, and that in no event would they be willing to
+receive more people from the United States, as these were the very ones
+who had already made most trouble in the settlement.[5] On January 22,
+1805, the General Assembly of Virginia passed a resolution that embodied
+a request to the United States Government to set aside a portion of
+territory in the new Louisiana Purchase "to be appropriated to
+the residence of such people of color as have been, or shall be,
+emancipated, or may hereafter become dangerous to the public safety."
+Nothing came of this. By the close then of Jefferson's second
+administration the Northwest, the Southwest, the West Indies, and Sierra
+Leone had all been thought of as possible fields for colonization, but
+from the consideration nothing visible had resulted.
+
+[Footnote 1: Monroe.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Jefferson.]
+
+[Footnote 3: _Writings_, X, 297.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _Writings_, X, 327-328.]
+
+[Footnote 5: _Ibid_., XIII, 11.]
+
+Now followed the period of Southern expansion and of increasing
+materialism, and before long came the War of 1812. By 1811 a note of
+doubt had crept into Jefferson's dealing with the subject. Said he:
+"Nothing is more to be wished than that the United States would
+themselves undertake to make such an establishment on the coast of
+Africa ... But for this the national mind is not yet prepared. It may
+perhaps be doubted whether many of these people would voluntarily
+consent to such an exchange of situation, and very certain that few of
+those advanced to a certain age in habits of slavery, would be capable
+of self-government. This should not, however, discourage the experiment,
+nor the early trial of it; and the proposition should be made with all
+the prudent cautions and attentions requisite to reconcile it to the
+interests, the safety, and the prejudices of all parties."[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: _Writings_, XIII, 11.]
+
+From an entirely different source, however, and prompted not by
+expediency but the purest altruism, came an impulse that finally told in
+the founding of Liberia. The heart of a young man reached out across
+the sea. Samuel J. Mills, an undergraduate of Williams College, in 1808
+formed among his fellow-students a missionary society whose work later
+told in the formation of the American Bible Society and the Board of
+Foreign Missions. Mills continued his theological studies at Andover and
+then at Princeton; and while at the latter place he established a school
+for Negroes at Parsippany, thirty miles away. He also interested in
+his work and hopes Rev. Robert Finley, of Basking Ridge, N.J., who
+"succeeded in assembling at Princeton the first meeting ever called to
+consider the project of sending Negro colonists to Africa,"[1] and who
+in a letter to John P. Mumford, of New York, under date February 14,
+1815, expressed his interest by saying, "We should send to Africa a
+population partly civilized and christianized for its benefit; and our
+blacks themselves would be put in a better condition."
+
+[Footnote 1: McPherson, 18.]
+
+In this same year, 1815, the country was startled by the unselfish
+enterprise of a Negro who had long thought of the unfortunate situation
+of his people in America and who himself shouldered the obligation to
+do something definite in their behalf. Paul Cuffe had been born in May,
+1759, on one of the Elizabeth Islands near New Bedford, Mass., the son
+of a father who was once a slave from Africa and of an Indian mother.[1]
+Interested in navigation, he made voyages to Russia, England, Africa,
+the West Indies, and the South; and in time he commanded his own vessel,
+became generally respected, and by his wisdom rose to a fair degree of
+opulence. For twenty years he had thought especially about Africa,
+and in 1815 he took to Sierra Leone a total of nine families and
+thirty-eight persons at an expense to himself of nearly $4000. The
+people that he brought were well received at Sierra Leone, and Cuffe
+himself had greater and more far-reaching plans when he died September
+7, 1817. He left an estate valued at $20,000.
+
+[Footnote 1: First Annual Report of American Colonization Society.]
+
+Dr. Finley's meeting at Princeton was not very well attended and hence
+not a great success. Nevertheless he felt sufficiently encouraged to go
+to Washington in December, 1816, to use his effort for the formation of
+a national colonization society. It happened that in February of this
+same year, 1816, General Charles Fenton Mercer, member of the House of
+Delegates, came upon the secret journals of the legislature for the
+period 1801-5 and saw the correspondence between Monroe and Jefferson.
+Interested in the colonization project, on December 14 (Monroe
+then being President-elect) he presented in the House of Delegates
+resolutions embodying the previous enactments; and these passed 132 to
+14. Finley was generally helped by the effort of Mercer, and on December
+21, 1816, there was held in Washington a meeting of public men
+and interested citizens, Henry Clay, then Speaker of the House of
+Representatives, presiding. A constitution was adopted at an adjourned
+meeting on December 28; and on January 1, 1817, were formally chosen
+the officers of "The American Society for Colonizing the Free People
+of Color of the United States." At this last meeting Henry Clay, again
+presiding, spoke in glowing terms of the possibilities of the movement;
+Elias B. Caldwell, a brother-in-law of Finley, made the leading
+argument; and John Randolph, of Roanoke, Va., and Robert Wright, of
+Maryland, spoke of the advantages to accrue from the removal of the free
+Negroes from the country (which remarks were very soon to awaken
+much discussion and criticism, especially on the part of the Negroes
+themselves). It is interesting to note that Mercer had no part at all in
+the meeting of January 1, not even being present; he did not feel that
+any but Southern men should be enrolled in the organization. However,
+Bushrod Washington, the president, was a Southern man; twelve of the
+seventeen vice-presidents were Southern men, among them being Andrew
+Jackson and William Crawford; and all of the twelve managers were
+slaveholders.
+
+Membership in the American Colonization Society originally consisted,
+first, of such as sincerely desired to afford the free Negroes an asylum
+from oppression and who hoped through them to extend to Africa the
+blessings of civilization and Christianity; second, of such as sought to
+enhance the value of their own slaves by removing the free Negroes; and
+third, of such as desired to be relieved of any responsibility whatever
+for free Negroes. The movement was widely advertised as "an effort
+for the benefit of the blacks in which all parts of the country could
+unite," it being understood that it was "not to have the abolition of
+slavery for its immediate object," nor was it to "aim directly at the
+instruction of the great body of the blacks." Such points as the last
+were to prove in course of time hardly less than a direct challenge to
+the different abolitionist organizations in the North, and more and more
+the Society was denounced as a movement on the part of slaveholders for
+perpetuating their institutions by doing away with the free people of
+color. It is not to be supposed, however, that the South, with its usual
+religious fervor, did not put much genuine feeling into the colonization
+scheme. One man in Georgia named Tubman freed his slaves, thirty in all,
+and placed them in charge of the Society with a gift of $10,000; Thomas
+Hunt, a young Virginian, afterwards a chaplain in the Union Army, sent
+to Liberia the slaves he had inherited, paying the entire cost of the
+journey; and others acted in a similar spirit of benevolence. It was
+but natural, however, for the public to be somewhat uncertain as to the
+tendencies of the organization when the utterances of representative
+men were sometimes directly contradictory. On January 20, 1827, for
+instance, Henry Clay, then Secretary of State, speaking in the hall of
+the House of Representatives at the annual meeting of the Society, said:
+"Of all classes of our population, the most vicious is that of the free
+colored. It is the inevitable result of their moral, political, and
+civil degradation. Contaminated themselves, they extend their vices to
+all around them, to the slaves and to the whites." Just a moment later
+he said: "Every emigrant to Africa is a missionary carrying with him
+credentials in the holy cause of civilization, religion, and free
+institutions." How persons contaminated and vicious could be
+missionaries of civilization and religion was something possible only in
+the logic of Henry Clay. In the course of the next month Robert Y. Hayne
+gave a Southern criticism in two addresses on a memorial presented in
+the United States Senate by the Colonization Society.[1] The first
+of these speeches was a clever one characterized by much wit and
+good-humored raillery; the second was a sober arraignment. Hayne
+emphasized the tremendous cost involved and the physical impossibility
+of the whole undertaking, estimating that at least sixty thousand
+persons a year would have to be transported to accomplish anything like
+the desired result. At the close of his brilliant attack, still making
+a veiled plea for the continuance of slavery, he nevertheless rose to
+genuine statesmanship in dealing with the problem of the Negro, saying,
+"While this process is going on the colored classes are gradually
+diffusing themselves throughout the country and are making steady
+advances in intelligence and refinement, and if half the zeal were
+displayed in bettering their condition that is now wasted in the vain
+and fruitless effort of sending them abroad, their intellectual and
+moral improvement would be steady and rapid." William Lloyd Garrison was
+untiring and merciless in flaying the inconsistencies and selfishness of
+the colonization organization. In an editorial in the _Liberator_, July
+9, 1831, he charged the Society, first, with persecution in compelling
+free people to emigrate against their will and in discouraging their
+education at home; second, with falsehood in saying that the Negroes
+were natives of Africa when they were no more so than white Americans
+were natives of Great Britain; third, with cowardice in asserting that
+the continuance of the Negro population in the country involved dangers;
+and finally, with infidelity in denying that the Gospel has full power
+to reach the hatred in the hearts of men. In _Thoughts on African
+Colonisation_ (1832) he developed exhaustively ten points as follows:
+That the American Colonization Society was pledged not to oppose the
+system of slavery, that it apologized for slavery and slaveholders, that
+it recognized slaves as property, that by deporting Negroes it increased
+the value of slaves, that it was the enemy of immediate abolition, that
+it was nourished by fear and selfishness, that it aimed at the utter
+expulsion of the blacks, that it was the disparager of free Negroes,
+that it denied the possibility of elevating the black people of the
+country, and that it deceived and misled the nation. Other criticisms
+were numerous. A broadside, "The Shields of American Slavery" ("Broad
+enough to hide the wrongs of two millions of stolen men") placed side by
+side conflicting utterances of members of the Society; and in August,
+1830, Kendall, fourth auditor, in his report to the Secretary of the
+Navy, wondered why the resources of the government should be used "to
+colonize recaptured Africans, to build homes for them, to furnish them
+with farming utensils, to pay instructors to teach them, to purchase
+ships for their convenience, to build forts for their protection, to
+supply them with arms and munitions of war, to enlist troops to guard
+them, and to employ the army and navy in their defense."[2] Criticism of
+the American Colonization Society was prompted by a variety of motives;
+but the organization made itself vulnerable at many points. The movement
+attracted extraordinary attention, but has had practically no effect
+whatever on the position of the Negro in the United States. Its work
+in connection with the founding of Liberia, however, is of the highest
+importance, and must later receive detailed attention.
+
+[Footnote 1: See Jervey: _Robert Y. Hayne and His Times_, 207-8.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Cited by McPherson, 22.]
+
+
+3. _Slavery_
+
+We have seen that from the beginning there were liberal-minded men in
+the South who opposed the system of slavery, and if we actually take
+note of all the utterances of different men and of the proposals for
+doing away with the system, we shall find that about the turn of the
+century there was in this section considerable anti-slavery sentiment.
+Between 1800 and 1820, however, the opening of new lands in the
+Southwest, the increasing emphasis on cotton, and the rapidly growing
+Negro population, gave force to the argument of expediency; and the
+Missouri Compromise drew sharply the lines of the contest. The South now
+came to regard slavery as its peculiar heritage; public men were forced
+to defend the institution; and in general the best thought of the
+section began to be obsessed and dominated by the Negro, just as it is
+to-day in large measure. In taking this position the South deliberately
+committed intellectual suicide. In such matters as freedom of speech and
+literary achievement, and in genuine statesmanship if not for the time
+being in political influence, this part of the country declined, and
+before long the difference between it and New England was appalling.
+Calhoun and Hayne were strong; but between 1820 and 1860 the South had
+no names to compare with Longfellow and Emerson in literature, or with
+Morse and Hoe in invention. The foremost college professor, Dew, of
+William and Mary, and even the outstanding divines, Furman, the Baptist,
+of South Carolina, in the twenties, and Palmer, the Presbyterian of New
+Orleans, in the fifties, are all now remembered mainly because they
+defended their section in keeping the Negro in bonds. William and Mary
+College, and even the University of Virginia, as compared with Harvard
+and Yale, became provincial institutions; and instead of the Washington
+or Jefferson of an earlier day now began to be nourished such a leader
+as "Bob" Toombs, who for all of his fire and eloquence was a demagogue.
+In making its choice the South could not and did not blame the Negro
+per se, for it was freely recognized that upon slave labor rested such
+economic stability as the section possessed. The tragedy was simply that
+thousands of intelligent Americans deliberately turned their faces to
+the past, and preferred to read the novels of Walter Scott and live in
+the Middle Ages rather than study the French Revolution and live in the
+nineteenth century. One hundred years after we find that the chains are
+still forged, that thought is not yet free. Thus the Negro Problem began
+to be, and still is, very largely the problem of the white man of the
+South. The era of capitalism had not yet dawned, and still far in the
+future was the day when the poor white man and the Negro were slowly to
+realize that their interests were largely identical.
+
+The argument with which the South came to support its position and to
+defend slavery need not here detain us at length. It was formally stated
+by Dew and others[1] and it was to be heard on every hand. One could
+hardly go to church, to say nothing of going to a public meeting,
+without hearing echoes of it. In general it was maintained that slavery
+had made for the civilization of the world in that it had mitigated
+the evils of war, had made labor profitable, had changed the nature of
+savages, and elevated woman. The slave-trade was of course horrible and
+unjust, but the great advantages of the system more than outweighed a
+few attendant evils. Emancipation and deportation were alike impossible.
+Even if practicable, they would not be expedient measures, for they
+meant the loss to Virginia of one-third of her property. As for
+morality, it was not to be expected that the Negro should have the
+sensibilities of the white man. Moreover the system had the advantage of
+cultivating a republican spirit among the white people. In short, said
+Dew, the slaves, in both the economic and the moral point of view, were
+"entirely unfit for a state of freedom among the whites." Holland,
+already cited, in 1822 maintained five points, as follows: 1. That the
+United States are one for national purposes, but separate for their
+internal regulation and government; 2. That the people of the North and
+East "always exhibited an unfriendly feeling on subjects affecting the
+interests of the South and West"; 3. That the institution of slavery
+was not an institution of the South's voluntary choosing; 4. That the
+Southern sections of the Union, both before and after the Declaration
+of Independence, "had uniformly exhibited a disposition to restrict
+the extension of the evil--and had always manifested as cordial a
+disposition to ameliorate it as those of the North and East"; and 5.
+That the actual state and condition of the slave population "reflected
+no disgrace whatever on the character of the country--as the slaves were
+infinitely better provided for than the laboring poor of other countries
+of the world, and were generally happier than millions of white people
+in the world." Such arguments the clergy supported and endeavored to
+reconcile with Christian precept. Rev. Dr. Richard Furman, president
+of the Baptist Convention of South Carolina,[2] after much inquiry and
+reasoning, arrived at the conclusion that "the holding of slaves is
+justifiable by the doctrine and example contained in Holy Writ; and is,
+therefore, consistent with Christian uprightness both in sentiment and
+conduct." Said he further: "The Christian golden rule, of doing
+to others as we would they should do to us, has been urged as an
+unanswerable argument against holding slaves. But surely this rule
+is never to be urged against that order of things which the Divine
+government has established; nor do our desires become a standard to us,
+under this rule, unless they have a due regard to justice, propriety,
+and the general good.... A father may very naturally desire that his son
+should be obedient to his orders: Is he therefore to obey the orders of
+his son? A man might be pleased to be exonerated from his debts by the
+generosity of his creditors; or that his rich neighbor should equally
+divide his property with him; and in certain circumstances might desire
+these to be done: Would the mere existence of this desire oblige him
+to exonerate his debtors, and to make such division of his property?"
+Calhoun in 1837 formally accepted slavery, saying that the South should
+no longer apologize for it; and the whole argument from the standpoint
+of expediency received eloquent expression in the Senate of the United
+States from no less a man than Henry Clay, who more and more appears in
+the perspective as a pro-Southern advocate. Said he: "I am no friend of
+slavery. But I prefer the liberty of my own country to that of any other
+people; and the liberty of my own race to that of any other race.
+The liberty of the descendants of Africa in the United States is
+incompatible with the safety and liberty of the European descendants.
+Their slavery forms an exception--an exception resulting from a
+stern and inexorable necessity--to the general liberty in the United
+States."[3] After the lapse of years the pro-slavery argument is pitiful
+in its numerous fallacies. It was in line with much of the discussion of
+the day that questioned whether the Negro was actually a human being,
+and but serves to show to what extremes economic interest will sometimes
+drive men otherwise of high intelligence and honor.
+
+[Footnote 1: _The Pro-Slavery Argument_ (as maintained by the most
+distinguished writers of the Southern states). Charleston, 1852.]
+
+[Footnote 2: "Rev. Dr. Richard Furman's Exposition of the Views of the
+Baptists relative to the Coloured Population in the United States, in
+a Communication to the Governor of South Carolina." Second edition,
+Charleston, 1833 (letter bears original date, December 24, 1822).]
+
+[Footnote 3: Address "On Abolition," February 7, 1839.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE NEGRO REPLY, I: REVOLT
+
+
+We have already seen that on several occasions in colonial times the
+Negroes in bondage made a bid for freedom, many men risking their all
+and losing their lives in consequence. In general these early attempts
+failed completely to realize their aim, organization being feeble and
+the leadership untrained and exerting only an emotional hold over
+adherents. In Charleston, S.C., in 1822, however, there was planned an
+insurrection about whose scope there could be no question. The leader,
+Denmark Vesey, is interesting as an intellectual insurrectionist just as
+the more famous Nat Turner is typical of the more fervent sort. It is
+the purpose of the present chapter to study the attempts for freedom
+made by these two men, and also those of two daring groups of captives
+who revolted at sea.
+
+
+1. _Denmark Vesey's Insurrection_
+
+Denmark Vesey is first seen as one of the three hundred and ninety
+slaves on the ship of Captain Vesey, who commanded a vessel trading
+between St. Thomas and Cape François (Santo Domingo), and who was
+engaged in supplying the French of the latter place with slaves. At the
+time, the boy was fourteen years old, and of unusual personal beauty,
+alertness, and magnetism. He was shown considerable favoritism, and
+was called Télémaque (afterwards corrupted to _Telmak_, and then to
+_Denmark_). On his arrival at Cape François, Denmark was sold with
+others of the slaves to a planter who owned a considerable estate. On
+his next trip, however, Captain Vesey learned that the boy was to be
+returned to him as unsound and subject to epileptic fits. The laws of
+the place permitted the return of a slave in such a case, and while it
+has been thought that Denmark's fits may have been feigned in order that
+he might have some change of estate, there was quite enough proof in the
+matter to impress the king's physician. Captain Vesey never had reason
+to regret having to take the boy back. They made several voyages
+together, and Denmark served until 1800 as his faithful personal
+attendant. In this year the young man, now thirty-three years of age and
+living in Charleston, won $1,500 in an East Bay Street lottery, $600 of
+which he devoted immediately to the purchase of his freedom. The sum was
+much less than he was really worth, but Captain Vesey liked him and had
+no reason to drive a hard bargain with him.
+
+In the early years of his full manhood accordingly Denmark Vesey found
+himself a free man in his own right and possessed of the means for a
+little real start in life. He improved his time and proceeded to win
+greater standing and recognition by regular and industrious work at his
+trade, that of a carpenter. Over the slaves he came to have unbounded
+influence. Among them, in accordance with the standards of the day, he
+had several wives and children (none of whom could he call his own), and
+he understood perfectly the fervor and faith and superstition of the
+Negroes with whom he had to deal. To his remarkable personal magnetism
+moreover he added just the strong passion and the domineering temper
+that were needed to make his conquest complete.
+
+Thus for twenty years he worked on. He already knew French as well
+as English, but he now studied and reflected upon as wide a range of
+subjects as possible. It was not expected at the time that there would
+be religious classes or congregations of Negroes apart from the white
+people; but the law was not strictly observed, and for a number of
+years a Negro congregation had a church in Hampstead in the suburbs
+of Charleston. At the meetings here and elsewhere Vesey found his
+opportunity, and he drew interesting parallels between the experiences
+of the Jews and the Negroes. He would rebuke a companion on the street
+for bowing to a white person; and if such a man replied, "We are
+slaves," he would say, "You deserve to be." If the man then asked
+what he could do to better his condition, he would say, "Go and buy a
+spelling-book and read the fable of Hercules and the wagoner."[1] At the
+same time if he happened to engage in conversation with white people in
+the presence of Negroes, he would often take occasion to introduce some
+striking remark on slavery. He regularly held up to emulation the work
+of the Negroes of Santo Domingo; and either he or one of his chief
+lieutenants clandestinely sent a letter to the President of Santo
+Domingo to ask if the people there would help the Negroes of Charleston
+if the latter made an effort to free themselves.[2] About 1820 moreover,
+when he heard of the African Colonization scheme and the opportunity
+came to him to go, he put this by, waiting for something better. This
+was the period of the Missouri Compromise. Reports of the agitation and
+of the debates in Congress were eagerly scanned by those Negroes in
+Charleston who could read; rumor exaggerated them; and some of the more
+credulous of the slaves came to believe that the efforts of Northern
+friends had actually emancipated them and that they were being illegally
+held in bondage. Nor was the situation improved when the city marshal,
+John J. Lafar, on January 15, 1821, reminded those ministers or other
+persons who kept night and Sunday schools for Negroes that the law
+forbade the education of such persons and would have to be enforced.
+Meanwhile Vesey was very patient. After a few months, however, he ceased
+to work at his trade in order that all the more he might devote
+himself to the mission of his life. This was, as he conceived it, an
+insurrection that would do nothing less than totally annihilate the
+white population of Charleston.
+
+[Footnote 1: Official Report, 19.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Official Report, 96-97, and Higginson, 232-3.]
+
+In the prosecution of such a plan the greatest secrecy and faithfulness
+were of course necessary, and Vesey waited until about Christmas, 1821,
+to begin active recruiting. He first sounded Ned and Rolla Bennett,
+slaves of Governor Thomas Bennett, and then Peter Poyas and Jack
+Purcell. After Christmas he spoke to Gullah Jack and Monday Gell;
+and Lot Forrester and Frank Ferguson became his chief agents for the
+plantations outside of Charleston.[1] In the whole matter of the choice
+of his chief assistants he showed remarkable judgment of character. His
+penetration was almost uncanny. "Rolla was plausible, and possessed
+uncommon self-possession; bold and ardent, he was not to be deterred
+from his purpose by danger. Ned's appearance indicated that he was a man
+of firm nerves and desperate courage. Peter was intrepid and resolute,
+true to his engagements, and cautious in observing secrecy when it was
+necessary; he was not to be daunted or impeded by difficulties, and
+though confident of success, was careful in providing against any
+obstacles or casualties which might arise, and intent upon discovering
+every means which might be in their power if thought of beforehand.
+Gullah Jack was regarded as a sorcerer, and as such feared by the
+natives of Africa, who believe in witchcraft. He was not only considered
+invulnerable, but that he could make others so by his charms; and that
+he could and certainly would provide all his followers with arms....
+His influence amongst the Africans was inconceivable. Monday was firm,
+resolute, discreet, and intelligent."[2] He was also daring and active,
+a harness-maker in the prime of life, and he could read and write with
+facility; but he was also the only man of prominence in the conspiracy
+whose courage failed him in court and who turned traitor. To these names
+must be added that of Batteau Bennett, who was only eighteen years old
+and who brought to the plan all the ardor and devotion of youth. In
+general Vesey sought to bring into the plan those Negroes, such as
+stevedores and mechanics, who worked away from home and who had some
+free time. He would not use men who were known to become intoxicated,
+and one talkative man named George he excluded from his meetings. Nor
+did he use women, not because he did not trust them, but because in case
+of mishap he wanted the children to be properly cared for. "Take care,"
+said Peter Poyas, in speaking about the plan to one of the recruits,
+"and don't mention it to those waiting men who receive presents of old
+coats, etc., from their masters, or they'll betray us; I will speak to
+them."
+
+[Footnote 1: Official Report, 20. Note that Higginson, who was so
+untiring in his research, strangely confuses Jack Purcell and Gullah
+Jack (p. 230). The men were quite distinct, as appears throughout the
+report and from the list of those executed. The name of Gullah Jack's
+owner was Pritchard.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Official Report, 24. Note that this remarkable
+characterization was given by the judges, Kennedy and Parker, who
+afterwards condemned the men to death.]
+
+With his lieutenants Vesey finally brought into the plan the Negroes for
+seventy or eighty miles around Charleston. The second Monday in July,
+1822, or Sunday, July 14, was the time originally set for the attack.
+July was chosen because in midsummer many of the white people were
+away at different resorts; and Sunday received favorable consideration
+because on that day the slaves from the outlying plantations were
+frequently permitted to come to the city. Lists of the recruits were
+kept. Peter Poyas is said to have gathered as many as six hundred names,
+chiefly from that part of Charleston known as South Bay in which he
+lived; and it is a mark of his care and discretion that of all of those
+afterwards arrested and tried, not one belonged to his company. Monday
+Gell, who joined late and was very prudent, had forty-two names. All
+such lists, however, were in course of time destroyed. "During the
+period that these enlistments were carrying on, Vesey held frequent
+meetings of the conspirators at his house; and as arms were necessary to
+their success, each night a hat was handed round, and collections made,
+for the purpose of purchasing them, and also to defray other necessary
+expenses. A Negro who was a blacksmith and had been accustomed to make
+edged tools, was employed to make pike-heads and bayonets with sockets,
+to be fixed at the ends of long poles and used as pikes. Of these
+pike-heads and bayonets, one hundred were said to have been made at an
+early day, and by the 16th June as many as two or three hundred, and
+between three and four hundred daggers."[1] A bundle containing some of
+the poles, neatly trimmed and smoothed off, and nine or ten feet long,
+was afterwards found concealed on a farm on Charleston Neck, where
+several of the meetings were held, having been carried there to have the
+pike-heads and bayonets fixed in place. Governor Bennett stated that the
+number of poles thus found was thirteen, but so wary were the Negroes
+that he and other prominent men underestimated the means of attack. It
+was thought that the Negroes in Charleston might use their masters'
+arms, while those from the country were to bring hoes, hatchets, and
+axes. For their main supply of arms, however, Vesey and Peter Poyas
+depended upon the magazines and storehouses in the city. They planned to
+seize the Arsenal in Meeting Street opposite St. Michael's Church; it
+was the key to the city, held the arms of the state, and had for some
+time been neglected. Poyas at a given signal at midnight was to move
+upon this point, killing the sentinel. Two large gun and powder stores
+were by arrangement to be at the disposal of the insurrectionists; and
+other leaders, coming from six different directions, were to seize
+strategic points and thus aid the central work of Poyas. Meanwhile a
+body of horse was to keep the streets clear. "Eat only dry food," said
+Gullah Jack as the day approached, "parched corn and ground nuts, and
+when you join us as we pass put this crab claw in your mouth and you
+can't be wounded."
+
+[Footnote 1: Official Report, 31-32.]
+
+On May 25[1] a slave of Colonel Prioleau, while on an errand at the
+wharf, was accosted by another slave, William Paul, who remarked: "I
+have often seen a flag with the number 76, but never one with the number
+96 upon it before." As this man showed no knowledge of what was going
+on, Paul spoke to him further and quite frankly about the plot. The
+slave afterwards spoke to a free man about what he had heard; this man
+advised him to tell his master about it; and so he did on Prioleau's
+return on May 30. Prioleau immediately informed the Intendant, or Mayor,
+and by five o'clock in the afternoon both the slave and Paul were being
+examined. Paul was placed in confinement, but not before his testimony
+had implicated Peter Poyas and Mingo Harth, a man who had been appointed
+to lead one of the companies of horse. Harth and Poyas were cool and
+collected, however, they ridiculed the whole idea, and the wardens,
+completely deceived, discharged them. In general at this time the
+authorities were careful and endeavored not to act hastily. About June
+8, however, Paul, greatly excited and fearing execution, confessed that
+the plan was very extensive and said that it was led by an individual
+who bore a charmed life. Ned Bennett, hearing that his name had been
+mentioned, voluntarily went before the Intendant and asked to be
+examined, thus again completely baffling the officials. All the while,
+in the face of the greatest danger, Vesey continued to hold his
+meetings. By Friday, June 14, however, another informant had spoken
+to his master, and all too fully were Peter Poyas's fears about
+"waiting-men" justified. This man said that the original plan had been
+changed, for the night of Sunday, June 16, was now the time set for
+the insurrection, and otherwise he was able to give all essential
+information.[2] On Saturday night, June 15, Jesse Blackwood, an aid sent
+into the country to prepare the slaves to enter the following day, while
+he penetrated two lines of guards, was at the third line halted and sent
+back into the city. Vesey now realized in a moment that all his plans
+were disclosed, and immediately he destroyed any papers that might prove
+to be incriminating. "On Sunday, June 16, at ten o'clock at night,
+Captain Cattle's Corps of Hussars, Captain Miller's Light Infantry,
+Captain Martindale's Neck Rangers, the Charleston Riflemen and the City
+Guard were ordered to rendezvous for guard, the whole organized as a
+detachment under command of Colonel R.Y. Hayne."[3] It was his work on
+this occasion that gave Hayne that appeal to the public which was later
+to help him to pass on to the governorship and then to the United States
+Senate. On the fateful night twenty or thirty men from the outlying
+districts who had not been able to get word of the progress of events,
+came to the city in a small boat, but Vesey sent word to them to go back
+as quickly as possible.
+
+[Footnote 1: Higginson, 215.]
+
+[Footnote 2: For reasons of policy the names of these informers were
+withheld from publication, but they were well known, of course, to
+the Negroes of Charleston. The published documents said of the chief
+informer, "It would be a libel on the liberality and gratitude of this
+community to suppose that this man can be overlooked among those who are
+to be rewarded for their fidelity and principle." The author has been
+informed that his reward for betraying his people was to be officially
+and legally declared "a white man."]
+
+[Footnote 3: Jervey: _Robert Y. Hayne and His Times_, 131-2.]
+
+Two courts were formed for the trial of the conspirators. The first,
+after a long session of five weeks, was dissolved July 20; a second was
+convened, but after three days closed its investigation and adjourned
+August 8.[1] All the while the public mind was greatly excited. The
+first court, which speedily condemned thirty-four men to death, was
+severely criticized. The New York _Daily Advertiser_ termed the
+execution "a bloody sacrifice"; but Charleston replied with the reminder
+of the Negroes who had been burned in New York in 1741.[2] Some of the
+Negroes blamed the leaders for the trouble into which they had been
+brought, but Vesey himself made no confession. He was by no means alone.
+"Do not open your lips," said Poyas; "die silent as you shall see me
+do." Something of the solicitude of owners for their slaves may be
+seen from the request of Governor Bennett himself in behalf of Batteau
+Bennett. He asked for a special review of the case of this young man,
+who was among those condemned to death, "with a view to the mitigation
+of his punishment." The court did review the case, but it did not change
+its sentence. Throughout the proceedings the white people of Charleston
+were impressed by the character of those who had taken part in the
+insurrection; "many of them possessed the highest confidence of their
+owners, and not one was of bad character."[3]
+
+[Footnote 1: Bennett letter.]
+
+[Footnote 2: See _City Gazette_, August 14, 1822, cited by Jervey.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Official Report, 44.]
+
+As a result of this effort for freedom one hundred and thirty-one
+Negroes were arrested; thirty-five were executed and forty-three
+banished.[1] Of those executed, Denmark Vesey, Peter Poyas, Ned Bennett,
+Rolla Bennett, Batteau Bennett, and Jesse Blackwood were hanged July 2;
+Gullah Jack and one more on July 12; twenty-two were hanged on a huge
+gallows Friday, July 26; four more were hanged July 30, and one on
+August 9. Of those banished, twelve had been sentenced for execution,
+but were afterwards given banishment instead; twenty-one were to be
+transported by their masters beyond the limits of the United States;
+one, a free man, required to leave the state, satisfied the court by
+offering to leave the United States, while nine others who were not
+definitely sentenced were strongly recommended to their owners for
+banishment. The others of the one hundred and thirty-one were acquitted.
+The authorities at length felt that they had executed enough to teach
+the Negroes a lesson, and the hanging ceased; but within the next
+year or two Governor Bennett and others gave to the world most gloomy
+reflections upon the whole proceeding and upon the grave problem at
+their door. Thus closed the insurrection that for the ambitiousness of
+its plan, the care with which it was matured, and the faithfulness of
+the leaders to one another, was never equalled by a similar attempt for
+freedom in the United States.
+
+[Footnote 1: The figure is sometimes given as 37, but the lists total
+43.]
+
+
+_2. Nat Turner's Insurrection_
+
+About noon on Sunday, August 21, 1831, on the plantation of Joseph
+Travis at Cross Keys, in Southampton County, in Southeastern Virginia,
+were gathered four Negroes, Henry Porter, Hark Travis, Nelson Williams,
+and Sam Francis, evidently preparing for a barbecue. They were soon
+joined by a gigantic and athletic Negro named Will Francis, and by
+another named Jack Reese. Two hours later came a short, strong-looking
+man who had a face of great resolution and at whom one would not
+have needed to glance a second time to know that he was to be the
+master-spirit of the company. Seeing Will and his companion he raised a
+question as to their being present, to which Will replied that life was
+worth no more to him than the others and that liberty was as dear to
+him. This answer satisfied the latest comer, and Nat Turner now went
+into conference with his most trusted friends. One can only imagine the
+purpose, the eagerness, and the firmness on those dark faces throughout
+that long summer afternoon and evening. When at last in the night the
+low whispering ceased, the doom of nearly three-score white persons--and
+it might be added, of twice as many Negroes--was sealed.
+
+Cross Keys was seventy miles from Norfolk, just about as far from
+Richmond, twenty-five miles from the Dismal Swamp, fifteen miles from
+Murfreesboro in North Carolina, and also fifteen miles from Jerusalem,
+the county seat of Southampton County. The community was settled
+primarily by white people of modest means. Joseph Travis, the owner of
+Nat Turner, had recently married the widow of one Putnam Moore.
+
+Nat Turner, who originally belonged to one Benjamin Turner, was born
+October 2, 1800. He was mentally precocious and had marks on his head
+and breast which were interpreted by the Negroes who knew him as marking
+him for some high calling. In his mature years he also had on his right
+arm a knot which was the result of a blow which he had received. He
+experimented in paper, gunpowder, and pottery, and it is recorded of him
+that he was never known to swear an oath, to drink a drop of spirits,
+or to commit a theft. Instead he cultivated fasting and prayer and the
+reading of the Bible.
+
+More and more Nat gave himself up to a life of the spirit and to
+communion with the voices that he said he heard. He once ran away for
+a month, but felt commanded by the spirit to return. About 1825 a
+consciousness of his great mission came to him, and daily he labored
+to make himself more worthy. As he worked in the field he saw drops
+of blood on the corn, and he also saw white spirits and black spirits
+contending in the skies. While he thus so largely lived in a religious
+or mystical world and was immersed, he was not a professional Baptist
+preacher. On May 12, 1828, he was left no longer in doubt. A great voice
+said unto him that the Serpent was loosed, that Christ had laid down the
+yoke, that he, Nat, was to take it up again, and that the time was fast
+approaching when the first should be last and the last should be first.
+An eclipse of the sun in February, 1831, was interpreted as the sign for
+him to go forward. Yet he waited a little longer, until he had made sure
+of his most important associates. It is worthy of note that when he
+began his work, while he wanted the killing to be as effective and
+widespread as possible, he commanded that no outrage be committed, and
+he was obeyed.
+
+When on the Sunday in August Nat and his companions finished their
+conference, they went to find Austin, a brother-spirit; and then all
+went to the cider-press and drank except Nat. It was understood that he
+as the leader was to spill the first blood, and that he was to begin
+with his own master, Joseph Travis. Going to the house, Hark placed
+a ladder against the chimney. On this Nat ascended; then he went
+downstairs, unbarred the doors, and removed the guns from their places.
+He and Will together entered Travis's chamber, and the first blow was
+given to the master of the house. The hatchet glanced off and Travis
+called to his wife; but this was with his last breath, for Will at once
+despatched him with his ax. The wife and the three children of the house
+were also killed immediately. Then followed a drill of the company,
+after which all went to the home of Salathiel Francis six hundred yards
+away. Sam and Will knocked, and Francis asked who was there. Sam replied
+that he had a letter, for him. The man came to the door, where he was
+seized and killed by repeated blows over the head. He was the only white
+person in the house. In silence all passed on to the home of Mrs.
+Reese, who was killed while asleep in bed. Her son awoke, but was also
+immediately killed. A mile away the insurrectionists came to the home of
+Mrs. Turner, which they reached about sunrise on Monday morning. Henry,
+Austin, and Sam went to the still, where they found and killed the
+overseer, Peebles, Austin shooting him. Then all went to the house. The
+family saw them coming and shut the door--to no avail, however, as Will
+with one stroke of his ax opened it and entered to find Mrs. Turner and
+Mrs. Newsome in the middle of the room almost frightened to death. Will
+killed Mrs. Turner with one blow of his ax, and after Nat had struck
+Mrs. Newsome over the head with his sword, Will turned and killed her
+also. By this time the company amounted to fifteen. Nine went mounted to
+the home of Mrs. Whitehead and six others went along a byway to the home
+of Henry Bryant. As they neared the first house Richard Whitehead, the
+son of the family, was standing in the cotton-patch near the fence.
+Will killed him with his ax immediately. In the house he killed Mrs.
+Whitehead, almost severing her head from her body with one blow.
+Margaret, a daughter, tried to conceal herself and ran, but was killed
+by Turner with a fence-rail. The men in this first company were now
+joined by those in the second, the six who had gone to the Bryant home,
+who informed them that they had done the work assigned, which was to
+kill Henry Bryant himself, his wife and child, and his wife's mother. By
+this time the killing had become fast and furious. The company divided
+again; some would go ahead, and Nat would come up to find work already
+accomplished. Generally fifteen or twenty of the best mounted were put
+in front to strike terror and prevent escape, and Nat himself frequently
+did not get to the houses where killing was done. More and more the
+Negroes, now about forty in number, were getting drunken and noisy.
+The alarm was given, and by nine or ten o'clock on Monday morning one
+Captain Harris and his family had escaped. Prominent among the events of
+the morning, however, was the killing at the home of Mrs. Waller of ten
+children who were gathering for school.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: In "Horrid Massacre," or, to use the more formal title,
+"Authentic and Impartial Narrative of the Tragical Scene which was
+Witnessed in Southampton County (Virginia) on Monday the 22d of August
+Last," the list below of the victims of Nat Turner's insurrection
+is given. It must be said about this work, however, that it is not
+altogether impeccable; it seems to have been prepared very hastily after
+the event, its spelling of names is often arbitrary, and instead of the
+fifty-five victims noted it appears that at least fifty-seven white
+persons were killed:
+
+  Joseph Travis, wife and three children                         5
+  Mrs. Elizabeth Turner, Hartwell Peebles, and Sarah Newsum      3
+  Mrs. Piety Reese and son, William                              2
+  Trajan Doyal                                                   1
+  Henry Briant, wife and child, and wife's mother                4
+  Mrs. Catherine Whitehead, her son Richard, four daughters
+      and a grandchild                                           7
+  Salathael Francis                                              1
+  Nathaniel Francis's overseer and two children                  3
+  John T. Barrow and George Vaughan                              2
+  Mrs. Levi Waller and ten children                             11
+  Mr. William Williams, wife and two boys                        4
+  Mrs. Caswell Worrell and child                                 2
+  Mrs. Rebacca Vaughan, Ann Eliza Vaughan, and son Arthur        3
+  Mrs. Jacob Williams and three children and Edwin Drewry        5
+                                                                __
+                                                                55  ]
+
+As the men neared the home of James Parker, it was suggested that
+they call there; but Turner objected, as this man had already gone to
+Jerusalem and he himself wished to reach the county seat as soon as
+possible. However, he and some of the men remained at the gate while
+others went to the house half a mile away. This exploit proved to be the
+turning-point of the events of the day. Uneasy at the delay of those who
+went to the house, Turner went thither also. On his return he was met by
+a company of white men who had fired on those Negroes left at the gate
+and dispersed them. On discovering these men, Turner ordered his own men
+to halt and form, as now they were beginning to be alarmed. The white
+men, eighteen in number, approached and fired, but were forced to
+retreat. Reënforcements for them from Jerusalem were already at hand,
+however, and now the great pursuit of the Negro insurrectionists began.
+
+Hark's horse was shot under him and five or six of the men were wounded.
+Turner's force was largely dispersed, but on Monday night he stopped at
+the home of Major Ridley, and his company again increased to forty. He
+tried to sleep a little, but a sentinel gave the alarm; all were soon up
+and the number was again reduced to twenty. Final resistance was offered
+at the home of Dr. Blunt, but here still more of the men were put to
+flight and were never again seen by Turner.
+
+A little later, however, the leader found two of his men named Jacob and
+Nat. These he sent with word to Henry, Hark, Nelson, and Sam to meet him
+at the place where on Sunday they had taken dinner together. With what
+thoughts Nat Turner returned alone to this place on Tuesday evening can
+only be imagined. Throughout the night he remained, but no one joined
+him and he presumed that his followers had all either been taken or had
+deserted him. Nor did any one come on Wednesday, or on Thursday. On
+Thursday night, having supplied himself with provisions from the Travis
+home, he scratched a hole under a pile of fence-rails, and here he
+remained for six weeks, leaving only at night to get water. All
+the while of course he had no means of learning of the fate of his
+companions or of anything else. Meanwhile not only the vicinity but
+the whole South was being wrought up to an hysterical state of mind. A
+reward of $500 for the capture of the man was offered by the Governor,
+and other rewards were also offered. On September 30 a false account of
+his capture appeared in the newspapers; on October 7 another; on October
+8 still another. By this time Turner had begun to move about a little at
+night, not speaking to any human being and returning always to his hole
+before daybreak. Early on October 15 a dog smelt his provisions and led
+thither two Negroes. Nat appealed to these men for protection, but they
+at once began to run and excitedly spread the news. Turner fled in
+another direction and for ten days more hid among the wheat-stacks on
+the Francis plantation. All the while not less than five hundred men
+were on the watch for him, and they found the stick that he had notched
+from day to day. Once he thought of surrendering, and walked within two
+miles of Jerusalem. Three times he tried to get away, and failed. On
+October 25 he was discovered by Francis, who discharged at him a load of
+buckshot, twelve of which passed through his hat, and he was at large
+for five days more. On October 30 Benjamin Phipps, a member of the
+patrol, passing a clearing in the woods noticed a motion among the
+boughs. He paused, and gradually he saw Nat's head emerging from a hole
+beneath. The fugitive now gave up as he knew that the woods were full of
+men. He was taken to the nearest house, and the crowd was so great and
+the excitement so intense that it was with difficulty that he was taken
+to Jerusalem. For more than two months, from August 25 to October 30, he
+had eluded his pursuers, remaining all the while in the vicinity of his
+insurrection.
+
+While Nat Turner was in prison, Thomas C. Gray, his counsel, received
+from him what are known as his "Confessions." This pamphlet is now
+almost inaccessible,[1] but it was in great demand at the time it
+was printed and it is now the chief source for information about the
+progress of the insurrection. Turner was tried November 5 and sentenced
+to be hanged six days later. Asked in court by Gray if he still believed
+in the providential nature of his mission, he asked, "Was not Christ
+crucified?" Of his execution itself we read: "Nat Turner was executed
+according to sentence, on Friday, the 11th of November, 1831, at
+Jerusalem, between the hours of 10 A.M. and 2 P.M. He exhibited the
+utmost composure throughout the whole ceremony; and, although assured
+that he might, if he thought proper, address the immense crowd assembled
+on the occasion, declined availing himself of the privilege; and, being
+asked if he had any further confessions to make, replied that he had
+nothing more than he had communicated; and told the sheriff in a firm
+voice that he was ready. Not a limb or muscle was observed to move. His
+body, after death, was given over to the surgeons for dissection."
+
+[Footnote 1: The only copy that the author has seen is that in the
+library of Harvard University.]
+
+Of fifty-three Negroes arraigned in connection with the insurrection
+"seventeen were executed and twelve transported. The rest were
+discharged, except ... four free Negroes sent on to the Superior Court.
+Three of the four were executed." [1] Such figures as these, however,
+give no conception of the number of those who lost their lives in
+connection with the insurrection. In general, if slaves were convicted
+by legal process and executed or transported, or if they escaped before
+trial, they were paid for by the commonwealth; if killed, they were not
+paid for, and a man like Phipps might naturally desire to protect his
+prisoner in order to get his reward. In spite of this, the Negroes were
+slaughtered without trial and sometimes under circumstances of the
+greatest barbarity. One man proudly boasted that he had killed between
+ten and fifteen. A party went from Richmond with the intention of
+killing every Negro in Southampton County. Approaching the cabin of a
+free Negro they asked, "Is this Southampton County?" "Yes, sir," came
+the reply, "you have just crossed the line by yonder tree." They shot
+him dead and rode on. In general the period was one of terror, with
+voluntary patrols, frequently drunk, going in all directions. These men
+tortured, burned, or maimed the Negroes practically at will. Said one
+old woman [2] of them: "The patrols were low drunken whites, and in
+Nat's time, if they heard any of the colored folks prayin' or singin' a
+hymn, they would fall upon 'em and abuse 'em, and sometimes kill 'em....
+The brightest and best was killed in Nat's time. The whites always
+suspect such ones. They killed a great many at a place called Duplon.
+They killed Antonio, a slave of Mr. J. Stanley, whom they shot; then
+they pointed their guns at him and told him to confess about
+the insurrection. He told 'em he didn't know anything about any
+insurrection. They shot several balls through him, quartered him, and
+put his head on a pole at the fork of the road leading to the court....
+It was there but a short time. He had no trial. They never do. In Nat's
+time, the patrols would tie up the free colored people, flog 'em, and
+try to make 'em lie against one another, and often killed them before
+anybody could interfere. Mr. James Cole, High Sheriff, said if any of
+the patrols came on his plantation, he would lose his life in defense of
+his people. One day he heard a patroller boasting how many Negroes
+he had killed. Mr. Cole said, 'If you don't pack up, as quick as God
+Almighty will let you, and get out of this town, and never be seen in
+it again, I'll put you where dogs won't bark at you.' He went off, and
+wasn't seen in them parts again."
+
+[Footnote 1: Drewry, 101.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Charity Bowery, who gave testimony to L.M. Child, quoted by
+Higginson.]
+
+The immediate panic created by the Nat Turner insurrection in Virginia
+and the other states of the South it would be impossible to exaggerate.
+When the news of what was happening at Cross Keys spread, two companies,
+on horse and foot, came from Murfreesboro as quickly as possible. On
+the Wednesday after the memorable Sunday night there came from Fortress
+Monroe three companies and a piece of artillery. These commands were
+reënforced from various sources until not less than eight hundred men
+were in arms. Many of the Negroes fled to the Dismal Swamp, and the
+wildest rumors were afloat. One was that Wilmington had been burned, and
+in Raleigh and Fayetteville the wildest excitement prevailed. In the
+latter place scores of white women and children fled to the swamps,
+coming out two days afterwards muddy, chilled, and half-starved. Slaves
+were imprisoned wholesale. In Wilmington four men were shot without
+trial and their heads placed on poles at the four corners of the town.
+In Macon, Ga., a report was circulated that an armed band of Negroes was
+only five miles away, and within an hour the women and children were
+assembled in the largest building in the town, with a military force in
+front for protection.
+
+The effects on legislation were immediate. Throughout the South the
+slave codes became more harsh; and while it was clear that the uprising
+had been one of slaves rather than of free Negroes, as usual special
+disabilities fell upon the free people of color. Delaware, that only
+recently had limited the franchise to white men, now forbade the use of
+firearms by free Negroes and would not suffer any more to come within
+the state. Tennessee also forbade such immigration, while Maryland
+passed a law to the effect that all free Negroes must leave the state
+and be colonized in Africa--a monstrous piece of legislation that it was
+impossible to put into effect and that showed once for all the futility
+of attempts at forcible emigration as a solution of the problem. In
+general, however, the insurrection assisted the colonization scheme and
+also made more certain the carrying out of the policy of the Jackson
+administration to remove the Indians of the South to the West. It also
+focussed the attention of the nation upon the status of the Negro,
+crystallized opinion in the North, and thus helped with the formation of
+anti-slavery organizations. By it for the time being the Negro lost; in
+the long run he gained.
+
+
+3. _The "Amistad" and "Creole" Cases_
+
+On June 28, 1839, a schooner, the _Amistad_, sailed from Havana bound
+for Guanaja in the vicinity of Puerto Principe. She was under the
+command of her owner, Don Ramon Ferrer, was laden with merchandise, and
+had on board fifty-three Negroes, forty-nine of whom supposedly belonged
+to a Spaniard, Don Jose Ruiz, the other four belonging to Don Pedro
+Montes. During the night of June 30 the slaves, under the lead of one
+of their number named Cinque, rose upon the crew, killed the captain, a
+slave of his, and two sailors, and while they permitted most of the crew
+to escape, they took into close custody the two owners, Ruiz and Montes.
+Montes, who had some knowledge of nautical affairs, was ordered to steer
+the vessel back to Africa. So he did by day, when the Negroes would
+watch him, but at night he tried to make his way to some land nearer at
+hand. Other vessels passed from time to time, and from these the Negroes
+bought provisions, but Montes and Ruiz were so closely watched that they
+could not make known their plight. At length, on August 26, the schooner
+reached Long Island Sound, where it was detained by the American
+brig-of-war _Washington_, in command of Captain Gedney, who secured the
+Negroes and took them to New London, Conn. It took a year and a half to
+dispose of the issue thus raised. The case attracted the greatest amount
+of attention, led to international complications, and was not really
+disposed of until a former President had exhaustively argued the case
+for the Negroes before the Supreme Court of the United States.
+
+In a letter of September 6, 1839, to John Forsyth, the American
+Secretary of State, Calderon, the Spanish minister, formally made four
+demands: 1. That the _Amistad_ be immediately delivered up to her owner,
+together with every article on board at the time of her capture; 2. That
+it be declared that no tribunal in the United States had the right to
+institute proceedings against, or to impose penalties upon, the subjects
+of Spain, for crimes committed on board a Spanish vessel, and in the
+waters of Spanish territory; 3. That the Negroes be conveyed to Havana
+or otherwise placed at the disposal of the representatives of Spain; and
+4. That if, in consequence of the intervention of the authorities in
+Connecticut, there should be any delay in the desired delivery of the
+vessel and the slaves, the owners both of the latter and of the former
+be indemnified for the injury that might accrue to them. In support of
+his demands Calderon invoked "the law of nations, the stipulations
+of existing treaties, and those good feelings so necessary in the
+maintenance of the friendly relations that subsist between the two
+countries, and are so interesting to both." Forsyth asked for any papers
+bearing on the question, and Calderon replied that he had none except
+"the declaration on oath of Montes and Ruiz."
+
+Meanwhile the abolitionists were insisting that protection had _not_
+been afforded the African strangers cast on American soil and that in
+no case did the executive arm of the Government have any authority to
+interfere with the regular administration of justice. "These Africans,"
+it was said, "are detained in jail, under process of the United States
+courts, in a free state, after it has been decided by the District
+Judge, on sufficient proof, that they are recently from Africa, were
+never the lawful slaves of Ruiz and Montes," and "when it is clear as
+noonday that there is no law or treaty stipulation that requires the
+further detention of these Africans or their delivery to Spain or its
+subjects."
+
+Writing on October 24 to the Spanish representative with reference to
+the arrest of Ruiz and Montes, Forsyth informed him that the two Spanish
+subjects had been arrested on process issuing from the superior court of
+the city of New York upon affidavits of certain men, natives of Africa,
+"for the purpose of securing their appearance before the proper
+tribunal, to answer for wrongs alleged to have been inflicted by them
+upon the persons of said Africans," that, consequently, the occurrence
+constituted simply a "case of resort by individuals against others
+to the judicial courts of the country, which are equally open to all
+without distinction," and that the agency of the Government to obtain
+the release of Messrs. Ruiz and Montes could not be afforded in the
+manner requested. Further pressure was brought to bear by the Spanish
+representative, however, and there was cited the case of Abraham
+Wendell, captain of the brig _Franklin_, who was prosecuted at first by
+Spanish officials for maltreatment of his mate, but with reference to
+whom documents were afterwards sent from Havana to America. Much more
+correspondence followed, and Felix Grundy, of Tennessee, Attorney
+General of the United States, at length muddled everything by the
+following opinion: "These Negroes deny that they are slaves; if they
+should be delivered to the claimants, no opportunity may be afforded for
+the assertion of their right to freedom. For these reasons, it seems to
+me that a delivery to the Spanish minister is the only safe course for
+this Government to pursue." The fallacy of all this was shown in a
+letter dated November 18, 1839, from B.F. Butler, United States District
+Attorney in New York, to Aaron Vail, acting Secretary of State. Said
+Butler: "It does not appear to me that any question has yet arisen under
+the treaty with Spain; because, although it is an admitted principle,
+that neither the courts of this state, nor those of the United States,
+can take jurisdiction of criminal offenses committed by foreigners
+within the territory of a foreign state, yet it is equally settled in
+this country, that our courts will take cognizance of _civil_ actions
+between foreigners transiently within our jurisdiction, founded upon
+contracts or other transactions made or had in a foreign state."
+Southern influence was strong, however, and a few weeks afterwards an
+order was given from the Department of State to have a vessel anchor
+off New Haven, Conn., January 10, 1840, to receive the Negroes from
+the United States marshal and take them to Cuba; and on January 7 the
+President, Van Buren, issued the necessary warrant.
+
+The rights of humanity, however, were not to be handled in this summary
+fashion. The executive order was stayed, and the case went further
+on its progress to the highest tribunal in the land. Meanwhile the
+anti-slavery people were teaching the Africans the rudiments of English
+in order that they might be better able to tell their own story. From
+the first a committee had been appointed to look out for their interests
+and while they were awaiting the final decision in their case they
+cultivated a garden of fifteen acres.
+
+The appearance of John Quincy Adams in behalf of these Negroes before
+the Supreme Court of the United States February 24 and March 1, 1841, is
+in every way one of the most beautiful acts in American history. In the
+fullness of years, with his own administration as President twelve years
+behind him, the "Old Man Eloquent" came once more to the tribunal that
+he knew so well to make a last plea for the needy and oppressed. To the
+task he brought all his talents--his profound knowledge of law, his
+unrivaled experience, and his impressive personality; and his argument
+covers 135 octavo pages. He gave an extended analysis of the demand of
+the Spanish minister, who asked the President to do what he simply had
+no constitutional right to do. "The President," said Adams, "has no
+power to arrest either citizens or foreigners. But even that power is
+almost insignificant compared with that of sending men beyond seas to
+deliver them up to a foreign government." The Secretary of State had
+"degraded the country, in the face of the whole civilized world, not
+only by allowing these demands to remain unanswered, but by proceeding,
+throughout the whole transaction, as if the Executive were earnestly
+desirous to comply with every one of the demands." The Spanish minister
+had naturally insisted in his demands because he had not been properly
+met at first. The slave-trade was illegal by international agreement,
+and the only thing to do under the circumstances was to release the
+Negroes. Adams closed his plea with a magnificent review of his career
+and of the labors of the distinguished jurists he had known in the court
+for nearly forty years, and be it recorded wherever the name of Justice
+is spoken, he won his case.
+
+Lewis Tappan now accompanied the Africans on a tour through the states
+to raise money for their passage home. The first meeting was in Boston.
+Several members of the company interested the audience by their readings
+from the New Testament or by their descriptions of their own country
+and of the horrors of the voyage. Cinque gave the impression of great
+dignity and of extraordinary ability; and Kali, a boy only eleven years
+of age, also attracted unusual attention. Near the close of 1841,
+accompanied by five missionaries and teachers, the Africans set sail
+from New York, to make their way first to Sierra Leone and then to their
+own homes as well as they could.
+
+While this whole incident of the _Amistad_ was still engaging the
+interest of the public, there occurred another that also occasioned
+international friction and even more prolonged debate between the
+slavery and anti-slavery forces. On October 25, 1841, the brig _Creole_,
+Captain Ensor, of Richmond, Va., sailed from Richmond and on October 27
+from Hampton Roads, with a cargo of tobacco and one hundred and thirty
+slaves bound for New Orleans. On the vessel also, aside from the crew,
+were the captain's wife and child, and three or four passengers, who
+were chiefly in charge of the slaves, one man, John R. Hewell, being
+directly in charge of those belonging to an owner named McCargo. About
+9.30 on the night of Sunday, November 7, while out at sea, nineteen of
+the slaves rose, cowed the others, wounded the captain, and generally
+took command of the vessel. Madison Washington began the uprising by an
+attack on Gifford, the first mate, and Ben Blacksmith, one of the most
+aggressive of his assistants, killed Hewell. The insurgents seized the
+arms of the vessel, permitted no conversation between members of the
+crew except in their hearing, demanded and obtained the manifests of
+slaves, and threatened that if they were not taken to Abaco or some
+other British port they would throw the officers and crew overboard. The
+_Creole_ reached Nassau, New Providence, on Tuesday, November 9, and the
+arrival of the vessel at once occasioned intense excitement. Gifford
+went ashore and reported the matter, and the American consul, John F.
+Bacon, contended to the English authorities that the slaves on board the
+brig were as much a part of the cargo as the tobacco and entitled to
+the same protection from loss to the owners. The governor, Sir Francis
+Cockburn, however, was uncertain whether to interfere in the business at
+all. He liberated those slaves who were not concerned in the uprising,
+spoke of all of the slaves as "passengers," and guaranteed to the
+nineteen who were shown by an investigation to have been connected with
+the uprising all the rights of prisoners called before an English court.
+He told them further that the British Government would be communicated
+with before their case was finally passed upon, that if they wished
+copies of the informations these would be furnished them, and that they
+were privileged to have witnesses examined in refutation of the charges
+against them. From time to time Negroes who were natives of the island
+crowded about the brig in small boats and intimidated the American crew,
+but when on the morning of November 12 the Attorney General questioned
+them as to their intentions they replied with transparent good humor
+that they intended no violence and had assembled only for the purpose
+of conveying to shore such of the persons on the _Creole_ as might be
+permitted to leave and might need their assistance. The Attorney General
+required, however, that they throw overboard a dozen stout cudgels that
+they had. Here the whole case really rested. Daniel Webster as Secretary
+of State aroused the anti-slavery element by making a strong demand
+for the return of the slaves, basing his argument on the sacredness of
+vessels flying the American flag; but the English authorities at Nassau
+never returned any of them. On March 21, 1842, Joshua R. Giddings,
+untiring defender of the rights of the Negro, offered in the House of
+Representatives resolutions to the effect that slavery could exist only
+by positive law of the different states; that the states had delegated
+no control over slavery to the Federal Government, which alone had
+jurisdiction on the high seas, and that, therefore, slaves on the high
+seas became free and the coastwise trade was unconstitutional. The
+House, strongly pro-Southern, replied with a vote of censure and
+Giddings resigned, but he was immediately reëlected by his Ohio
+constituency.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE NEGRO REPLY, II: ORGANIZATION AND AGITATION
+
+
+It is not the purpose of the present chapter primarily to consider
+social progress on the part of the Negro. A little later we shall
+endeavor to treat this interesting subject for the period between the
+Missouri Compromise and the Civil War. Just now we are concerned with
+the attitude of the Negro himself toward the problem that seemed to
+present itself to America and for which such different solutions were
+proposed. So far as slavery was concerned, we have seen that the remedy
+suggested by Denmark Vesey and Nat Turner was insurrection. It is only
+to state an historical fact, however, to say that the great heart of the
+Negro people in the South did not believe in violence, but rather hoped
+and prayed for a better day to come by some other means. But what was
+the attitude of those people, progressive citizens and thinking leaders,
+who were not satisfied with the condition of the race and who had to
+take a stand on the issues that confronted them? If we study the matter
+from this point of view, we shall find an amount of ferment and unrest
+and honest difference of opinion that is sometimes overlooked or
+completely forgotten in the questions of a later day.
+
+
+1. _Walker's "Appeal_"
+
+The most widely discussed book written by a Negro in the period was one
+that appeared in Boston in 1829. David Walker, the author, had been born
+in North Carolina in 1785, of a free mother and a slave father, and he
+was therefore free.[1] He received a fair education, traveled widely
+over the United States, and by 1827 was living in Boston as the
+proprietor of a second-hand clothing store on Brattle Street. He felt
+very strongly on the subject of slavery and actually seems to have
+contemplated leading an insurrection. In 1828 he addressed various
+audiences of Negroes in Boston and elsewhere, and in 1829 he published
+his _Appeal, in four articles; together with a Preamble to the Coloured
+Citizens of the World, but in particular, and very expressly, to those
+of the United States of America_. The book was remarkably successful.
+Appearing in September, by March of the following year it had reached
+its third edition; and in each successive edition the language was more
+bold and vigorous. Walker's projected insurrection did not take place,
+and he himself died in 1830. While there was no real proof of the fact,
+among the Negro people there was a strong belief that he met with foul
+play.
+
+[Footnote 1: Adams: _Neglected Period of Anti-Slavery_, 93.]
+
+Article I Walker headed "Our Wretchedness in Consequence of Slavery." A
+trip over the United States had convinced him that the Negroes of the
+country were "the most degraded, wretched and abject set of beings that
+ever lived since the world began." He quoted a South Carolina paper as
+saying, "The Turks are the most barbarous people in the world--they
+treat the Greeks more like brutes than human beings"; and then from the
+same paper cited an advertisement of the sale of eight Negro men and
+four women. "Are we men?" he exclaimed. "I ask you, O! my brothers, are
+we men?... Have we any other master but Jesus Christ alone? Is He not
+their master as well as ours? What right, then, have we to obey and call
+any man master but Himself? How we could be so submissive to a gang of
+men, whom we can not tell whether they are as good as ourselves, or not,
+I never could conceive." "The whites," he asserted, "have always been an
+unjust, jealous, unmerciful, avaricious and bloodthirsty set of beings,
+always seeking after power and authority." As heathen the white people
+had been cruel enough, but as Christians they were ten times more so. As
+heathen "they were not quite so audacious as to go and take vessel loads
+of men, women and children, and in cold blood, through devilishness,
+throw them into the sea, and murder them in all kind of ways. But being
+Christians, enlightened and sensible, they are completely prepared
+for such hellish cruelties." Next was considered "Our Wretchedness in
+Consequence of Ignorance." In general the writer maintained that his
+people as a whole did not have intelligence enough to realize their own
+degradation; even if boys studied books they did not master their texts,
+nor did their information go sufficiently far to enable them actually to
+meet the problems of life. If one would but go to the South or West,
+he would see there a son take his mother, who bore almost the pains of
+death to give him birth, and by the command of a tyrant, strip her as
+naked as she came into the world and apply the cowhide to her until she
+fell a victim to death in the road. He would see a husband take his dear
+wife, not unfrequently in a pregnant state and perhaps far advanced, and
+beat her for an unmerciful wretch, until her infant fell a lifeless lump
+at her feet. Moreover, "there have been, and are this day, in Boston,
+New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, colored men who are in league
+with tyrants and who receive a great portion of their daily bread of
+the moneys which they acquire from the blood and tears of their more
+miserable brethren, whom they scandalously deliver into the hands of our
+natural enemies." In Article III Walker considered "Our Wretchedness in
+Consequence of the Preachers of the Religion of Jesus Christ." Here was
+a fertile field, which was only partially developed. Walker evidently
+did not have at hand the utterances of Furman and others to serve as a
+definite point of attack. He did point out, however, the general failure
+of Christian ministers to live up to the teachings of Christ. "Even here
+in Boston," we are informed, "pride and prejudice have got to such a
+pitch, that in the very houses erected to the Lord they have built
+little places for the reception of colored people, where they must sit
+during meeting, or keep away from the house of God." Hypocrisy could
+hardly go further than that of preachers who could not see the evils
+at their door but could "send out missionaries to convert the heathen,
+notwithstanding." Article IV was headed "Our Wretchedness in Consequence
+of the Colonizing Plan." This was a bitter arraignment, especially
+directed against Henry Clay. "I appeal and ask every citizen of these
+United States," said Walker, "and of the world, both white and black,
+who has any knowledge of Mr. Clay's public labors for these states--I
+want you candidly to answer the Lord, who sees the secrets of your
+hearts, Do you believe that Mr. Henry Clay, late Secretary of State, and
+now in Kentucky, is a friend to the blacks further than his personal
+interest extends?... Does he care a pinch of snuff about Africa--whether
+it remains a land of pagans and of blood, or of Christians, so long as
+he gets enough of her sons and daughters to dig up gold and silver for
+him?... Was he not made by the Creator to sit in the shade, and make the
+blacks work without remuneration for their services, to support him
+and his family? I have been for some time taking notice of this man's
+speeches and public writings, but never to my knowledge have I seen
+anything in his writings which insisted on the emancipation of slavery,
+which has almost ruined his country." Walker then paid his compliments
+to Elias B. Caldwell and John Randolph, the former of whom had said,
+"The more you improve the condition of these people, the more you
+cultivate their minds, the more miserable you make them in their present
+state." "Here," the work continues, "is a demonstrative proof of a plan
+got up, by a gang of slaveholders, to select the free people of color
+from among the slaves, that our more miserable brethren may be the
+better secured in ignorance and wretchedness, to work their farms and
+dig their mines, and thus go on enriching the Christians with their
+blood and groans. What our brethren could have been thinking about, who
+have left their native land and gone away to Africa, I am unable to
+say.... The Americans may say or do as they please, but they have to
+raise us from the condition of brutes to that of respectable men, and to
+make a national acknowledgment to us for the wrongs they have inflicted
+on us.... You may doubt it, if you please. I know that thousands will
+doubt--they think they have us so well secured in wretchedness, to them
+and their children, that it is impossible for such things to occur. So
+did the antediluvians doubt Noah, until the day in which the flood came
+and swept them away. So did the Sodomites doubt, until Lot had got out
+of the city, and God rained down fire and brimstone from heaven upon
+them and burnt them up. So did the king of Egypt doubt the very
+existence of God, saying, 'Who is the Lord, that I should let Israel
+go?' ... So did the Romans doubt.... But they got dreadfully deceived."
+
+This document created the greatest consternation in the South. The Mayor
+of Savannah wrote to Mayor Otis of Boston, demanding that Walker be
+punished. Otis, in a widely published letter, replied expressing his
+disapproval of the pamphlet, but saying that the author had done nothing
+that made him "amenable" to the laws. In Virginia the legislature
+considered passing an "extraordinary bill," not only forbidding the
+circulation of such seditious publications but forbidding the education
+of free Negroes. The bill passed the House of Delegates, but failed in
+the Senate. The _Appeal_ even found its way to Louisiana, where there
+were already rumors of an insurrection, and immediately a law was passed
+expelling all free Negroes who had come to the state since 1825.
+
+
+_2. The Convention Movement_
+
+As may be inferred from Walker's attitude, the representative men of the
+race were almost a unit in their opposition to colonization. They were
+not always opposed to colonization itself, for some looked favorably
+upon settlement in Canada, and a few hundred made their way to the West
+Indies. They did object, however, to the plan offered by the American
+Colonization Society, which more and more impressed them as a device on
+the part of slaveholders to get free Negroes out of the country in order
+that slave labor might be more valuable. Richard Allen, bishop of the
+African Methodist Episcopal Church, and the foremost Negro of the
+period, said: "We were stolen from our mother country and brought here.
+We have tilled the ground and made fortunes for thousands, and still
+they are not weary of our services. _But they who stay to till the
+ground must be slaves_. Is there not land enough in America, or 'corn
+enough in Egypt'? Why should they send us into a far country to die? See
+the thousands of foreigners emigrating to America every year: and if
+there be ground sufficient for them to cultivate, and bread for them to
+eat, why would they wish to send the _first tillers_ of the land away?
+Africans have made fortunes for thousands, who are yet unwilling to
+part with their services; but the free must be sent away, and those who
+remain must be slaves. I have no doubt that there are many good men who
+do not see as I do, and who are sending us to Liberia; but they have not
+duly considered the subject--they are not men of color. This land
+which we have watered with our tears and our blood is now our _mother
+country_, and we are well satisfied to stay where wisdom abounds and the
+gospel is free."[1] This point of view received popular expression in
+a song which bore the cumbersome title, "The Colored Man's Opinion of
+Colonization," and which was sung to the tune of "Home, Sweet Home." The
+first stanza was as follows:
+
+[Footnote 1: _Freedom's Journal_, November 2, 1827, quoted by Walker.]
+
+  Great God, if the humble and weak are as dear
+  To thy love as the proud, to thy children give ear!
+  Our brethren would drive us in deserts to roam;
+  Forgive them, O Father, and keep us at home.
+  Home, sweet home!
+  We have no other; this, this is our home.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: _Anti-Slavery Picknick_, 105-107.]
+
+To this sentiment formal expression was given in the measures adopted at
+various Negro meetings in the North. In 1817 the greatest excitement
+was occasioned by a report that through the efforts of the newly-formed
+Colonization Society all free Negroes were forcibly to be deported from
+the country. Resolutions of protest were adopted, and these were widely
+circulated.[1] Of special importance was the meeting in Philadelphia in
+January, presided over by James Forten. Of this the full report is as
+follows:
+
+[Footnote 1: They are fully recorded in _Garrison's Thoughts on African
+Colonization_.]
+
+At a numerous meeting of the people of color, convened at Bethel Church,
+to take into consideration the propriety of remonstrating against the
+contemplated measure that is to exile us from the land of our nativity,
+James Forten was called to the chair, and Russell Parrott appointed
+secretary. The intent of the meeting having been stated by the chairman,
+the following resolutions were adopted without one dissenting voice:
+
+    WHEREAS, Our ancestors (not of choice) were the first successful
+    cultivators of the wilds of America, we their descendants feel
+    ourselves entitled to participate in the blessings of her luxuriant
+    soil, which their blood and sweat manured; and that any measure or
+    system of measures, having a tendency to banish us from her bosom,
+    would not only be cruel, but in direct violation of those principles
+    which have been the boast of this republic,
+
+    _Resolved_, That we view with deep abhorrence the unmerited stigma
+    attempted to be cast upon the reputation of the free people of
+    color, by the promoters of this measure, "that they are a
+    dangerous and useless part of the community," when in the state of
+    disfranchisement in which they live, in the hour of danger they
+    ceased to remember their wrongs, and rallied around the standard of
+    their country.
+
+    _Resolved_, That we never will separate ourselves voluntarily from
+    the slave population of this country; they are our brethren by the
+    ties of consanguinity, of suffering, and of wrong; and we feel that
+    there is more virtue in suffering privations with them, than fancied
+    advantages for a season.
+
+    _Resolved_, That without arts, without science, without a proper
+    knowledge of government to cast upon the savage wilds of Africa the
+    free people of color, seems to us the circuitous route through which
+    they must return to perpetual bondage.
+
+    _Resolved_, That having the strongest confidence in the justice of
+    God, and philanthropy of the free states, we cheerfully submit our
+    destinies to the guidance of Him who suffers not a sparrow to fall
+    without his special providence.
+
+    _Resolved_, That a committee of eleven persons be appointed to open
+    a correspondence with the honorable Joseph Hopkinson, member
+    of Congress from this city, and likewise to inform him of the
+    sentiments of this meeting, and that the following named persons
+    constitute the committee, and that they have power to call a general
+    meeting, when they, in their judgment, may deem it proper: Rev.
+    Absalom Jones, Rev. Richard Allen, James Forten, Robert Douglass,
+    Francis Perkins, Rev. John Gloucester, Robert Gorden, James Johnson,
+    Quamoney Clarkson, John Summersett, Randall Shepherd.
+
+    JAMES FORTEN, Chairman.
+
+    RUSSELL PARROTT, Secretary.
+
+In 1827, in New York, was begun the publication of _Freedom's Journal_,
+the first Negro newspaper in the United States. The editors were John
+B. Russwurm and Samuel E. Cornish. Russwurm was a recent graduate of
+Bowdoin College and was later to become better known as the governor of
+Maryland in Africa. By 1830 feeling was acute throughout the country,
+especially in Ohio and Kentucky, and on the part of Negro men
+had developed the conviction that the time had come for national
+organization and protest.
+
+In the spring of 1830 Hezekiah Grice of Baltimore, who had become
+personally acquainted with the work of Lundy and Garrison, sent a letter
+to prominent Negroes in the free states bringing in question the general
+policy of emigration.[1] received no immediate response, but in August
+he received from Richard Allen an urgent request to come at once to
+Philadelphia. Arriving there he found in session a meeting discussing
+the wisdom of emigration to Canada, and Allen "showed him a printed
+circular signed by Peter Williams, rector of St. Philip's Church,
+New York, Peter Vogelsang and Thomas L. Jennings of the same place,
+approving the plan of convention."[2] The Philadelphians now issued a
+call for a convention of the Negroes of the United States to be held in
+their city September 15, 1830.
+
+[Footnote 1: John W. Cromwell: _The Early Negro Convention Movement_.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., 5.]
+
+This September meeting was held in Bethel A.M.E. Church. Bishop Richard
+Allen was chosen president, Dr. Belfast Burton of Philadelphia and
+Austin Steward of Rochester vice-presidents, Junius C. Morell of
+Pennsylvania secretary, and Robert Cowley of Maryland assistant
+secretary. There were accredited delegates from seven states. While this
+meeting might really be considered the first national convention of
+Negroes in the United States (aside of course from the gathering of
+denominational bodies), it seems to have been regarded merely as
+preliminary to a still more formal assembling, for the minutes of the
+next year were printed as the "Minutes and Proceedings of the First
+Annual Convention of the People of Color, held by adjournments in the
+city of Philadelphia, from the sixth to the eleventh of June, inclusive,
+1831. Philadelphia, 1831." The meetings of this convention were held in
+the Wesleyan Church on Lombard Street. Richard Allen had died earlier in
+the year and Grice was not present; not long afterwards he emigrated
+to Hayti, where he became prominent as a contractor. Rev. James W.C.
+Pennington of New York, however, now for the first time appeared on the
+larger horizon of race affairs; and John Bowers of Philadelphia served
+as president, Abraham D. Shadd of Delaware and William Duncan of
+Virginia as vice-presidents, William Whipper of Philadelphia as
+secretary, and Thomas L. Jennings of New York as assistant secretary.
+Delegates from five states were present. The gathering was not large,
+but it brought together some able men; moreover, the meeting had some
+distinguished visitors, among them Benjamin Lundy, William Lloyd
+Garrison, Rev. S.S. Jocelyn of New Haven, and Arthur Tappan of New York.
+
+The very first motion of the convention resolved "That a committee be
+appointed to institute an inquiry into the condition of the free people
+of color throughout the United States, and report their views upon the
+subject at a subsequent meeting." As a result of its work this committee
+recommended that the work of organizations interested in settlement in
+Canada be continued; that the free people of color be annually called to
+assemble by delegation; and it submitted "the necessity of deliberate
+reflection on the dissolute, intemperate, and ignorant condition of a
+large portion of the colored population of the United States." "And,
+lastly, your Committee view with unfeigned regret, and respectfully
+submit to the wisdom of this Convention, the operations and
+misrepresentations of the American Colonization Society in these United
+States.... We feel sorrowful to see such an immense and wanton waste
+of lives and property, not doubting the benevolent feelings of some
+individuals engaged in that cause. But we can not for a moment doubt
+but that the cause of many of our unconstitutional, unchristian, and
+unheard-of sufferings emanate from that unhallowed source; and we would
+call on Christians of every denomination firmly to resist it." The
+report was unanimously received and adopted.
+
+Jocelyn, Tappan, and Garrison addressed the convention with reference to
+a proposed industrial college in New Haven, toward the $20,000 expense
+of which one individual (Tappan himself) had subscribed $1000 with the
+understanding that the remaining $19,000 be raised within a year; and
+the convention approved the project, _provided_ the Negroes had a
+majority of at least one on the board of trustees. An illuminating
+address to the public called attention to the progress of emancipation
+abroad, to the fact that it was American persecution that led to the
+calling of the convention, and that it was this also that first induced
+some members of the race to seek an asylum in Canada, where already
+there were two hundred log houses, and five hundred acres under
+cultivation.
+
+In 1832 eight states were represented by a total of thirty delegates. By
+this time we learn that a total of eight hundred acres had been secured
+in Canada, that two thousand Negroes had gone thither, but that
+considerable hostility had been manifested on the part of the Canadians.
+Hesitant, the convention appointed an agent to investigate the
+situation. It expressed itself as strongly opposed to any national aid
+to the American Colonization Society and urged the abolition of slavery
+in the District of Columbia--all of which activity, it is well to
+remember, was a year before the American Anti-Slavery Society was
+organized.
+
+In 1833 there were fifty-eight delegates, and Abraham Shadd, now of
+Washington, was chosen president. The convention again gave prominence
+to the questions of Canada and colonization, and expressed itself with
+reference to the new law in Connecticut prohibiting Negroes from other
+states from attending schools within the state. The 1834 meeting was
+held in New York. Prudence Crandall[1] was commended for her stand in
+behalf of the race, and July 4 was set apart as a day for prayer and
+addresses on the condition of the Negro throughout the country. By
+this time we hear much of societies for temperance and moral reform,
+especially of the so-called Phoenix Societies "for improvement in
+general culture--literature, mechanic arts, and morals." Of these
+organizations Rev. Christopher Rush, of the A.M.E. Zion Church, was
+general president, and among the directors were Rev. Peter Williams,
+Boston Crummell, the father of Alexander Crummell, and Rev. William Paul
+Quinn, afterwards a well-known bishop of the A.M.E. Church. The 1835
+and 1836 meetings were held in Philadelphia, and especially were the
+students of Lane Seminary in Cincinnati commended for their zeal in
+the cause of abolition. A committee was appointed to look into the
+dissatisfaction of some emigrants to Liberia and generally to review the
+work of the Colonization Society.
+
+[Footnote 1: See Chapter X, Section 3.]
+
+In the decade 1837-1847 Frederick Douglass was outstanding as a leader,
+and other men who were now prominent were Dr. James McCune Smith, Rev.
+James W.C. Pennington, Alexander Crummell, William C. Nell, and Martin
+R. Delany. These are important names in the history of the period. These
+were the men who bore the brunt of the contest in the furious days of
+Texas annexation and the Compromise of 1850. About 1853 and 1854 there
+was renewed interest in the idea of an industrial college; steps were
+taken for the registry of Negro mechanics and artisans who were in
+search of employment, and of the names of persons who were willing to
+give them work; and there was also a committee on historical records and
+statistics that was not only to compile studies in Negro biography but
+also to reply to any assaults of note.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: We can not too much emphasize the fact that the leaders
+of this period were by no means impractical theorists but men who were
+scientifically approaching the social problem of their people. They not
+only anticipated such ideas as those of industrial education and of the
+National Urban League of the present day, but they also endeavored to
+lay firmly the foundations of racial self-respect.]
+
+Immediately after the last of the conventions just mentioned, those who
+were interested in emigration and had not been able to get a hearing
+in the regular convention issued a call for a National Emigration
+Convention of Colored Men to take place in Cleveland, Ohio, August
+24-26, 1854. The preliminary announcement said: "No person will be
+admitted to a seat in the Convention who would introduce the subject
+of emigration to the Eastern Hemisphere--either to Asia, Africa, or
+Europe--as our object and determination are to consider our claims
+to the West Indies, Central and South America, and the Canadas. This
+restriction has no reference to personal preference, or individual
+enterprise, but to the great question of national claims to come before
+the Convention."[1] Douglass pronounced the call "uncalled for, unwise,
+unfortunate and premature," and his position led him into a wordy
+discussion in the press with James M. Whitfield, of Buffalo, prominent
+at the time as a writer. Delany explained the call as follows: "It was
+a mere policy on the part of the authors of these documents, to confine
+their scheme to America (including the West Indies), whilst they
+were the leading advocates of the regeneration of Africa, lest they
+compromised themselves and their people to the avowed enemies of their
+race."[2] At the secret sessions, he informs us, Africa was the topic of
+greatest interest. In order to account for this position it is important
+to take note of the changes that had taken place between 1817 and 1854.
+When James Forten and others in Philadelphia in 1817 protested
+against the American Colonization Society as the plan of a "gang of
+slaveholders" to drive free people from their homes, they had abundant
+ground for the feeling. By 1839, however, not only had the personnel
+of the organization changed, but, largely through the influence of
+Garrison, the purpose and aim had also changed, and not Virginia and
+Maryland, but New York and Pennsylvania were now dominant in influence.
+Colonization had at first been regarded as a possible solution of the
+race problem; money was now given, however, "rather as an aid to the
+establishment of a model Negro republic in Africa, whose effort would
+be to discourage the slave-trade, and encourage energy and thrift among
+those free Negroes from the United States who chose to emigrate, and
+to give native Africans a demonstration of the advantages of
+civilization."[3] In view of the changed conditions, Delany and others
+who disagreed with Douglass felt that for the good of the race in the
+United States the whole matter of emigration might receive further
+consideration; at the same time, remembering old discussions, they
+did not wish to be put in the light of betrayers of their people. The
+Pittsburgh _Daily Morning Post_ of October 18, 1854, sneered at the new
+plan as follows: "If Dr. Delany drafted this report it certainly does
+him much credit for learning and ability; and can not fail to establish
+for him a reputation for vigor and brilliancy of imagination never yet
+surpassed. It is a vast conception of impossible birth. The Committee
+seem to have entirely overlooked the strength of the 'powers on earth'
+that would oppose the Africanization of more than half the Western
+Hemisphere. We have no motive in noticing this gorgeous dream of 'the
+Committee' except to show its fallacy--its impracticability, in fact,
+its absurdity. No sensible man, whatever his color, should be for a
+moment deceived by such impracticable theories." However, in spite of
+all opposition, the Emigration Convention met. Upon Delany fell the real
+brunt of the work of the organization. In 1855 Bishop James Theodore
+Holly was commissioned to Faustin Soulouque, Emperor of Hayti; and he
+received in his visit of a month much official attention with some
+inducement to emigrate. Delany himself planned to go to Africa as the
+head of a "Niger Valley Exploring Party." Of the misrepresentation and
+difficulties that he encountered he himself has best told. He did get to
+Africa, however, and he had some interesting and satisfactory interviews
+with representative chiefs. The Civil War put an end to his project, he
+himself accepting a major's commission from President Lincoln. Through
+the influence of Holly about two thousand persons went to Hayti, but not
+more than a third of these remained. A plan fostered by Whitfield for a
+colony in Central America came to naught when this leading spirit died
+in San Francisco on his way thither.[4]
+
+[Footnote 1: Official Report of the Niger Valley Exploring Party, by
+M.R. Delany, Chief Commissioner to Africa, New York, 1861.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Delany, 8.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Fox: _The American Colonisation Society_, 177; also note
+pp. 12, 120-2.]
+
+[Footnote 4: For the progress of all the plans offered to the convention
+note important letter written by Holly and given by Cromwell, 20-21.]
+
+
+3. _Sojourner Truth and Woman Suffrage_
+
+With its challenge to the moral consciousness it was but natural that
+anti-slavery should soon become allied with temperance, woman suffrage,
+and other reform movements that were beginning to appeal to the heart
+of America. Especially were representative women quick to see that the
+arguments used for their cause were very largely identical with those
+used for the Negro. When the woman suffrage movement was launched at
+Seneca Falls, N.Y., in 1848, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and
+their co-workers issued a Declaration of Sentiments which like
+many similar documents copied the phrasing of the Declaration of
+Independence. This said in part: "The history of mankind is a history
+of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man towards woman,
+having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over
+her.... He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to
+the elective franchise.... He has made her, if married, in the eye of
+the law civilly dead.... He has denied her the facilities for obtaining
+a thorough education, all colleges being closed to her." It mattered
+not at the time that male suffrage was by no means universal, or that
+amelioration of the condition of woman had already begun; the movement
+stated its case clearly and strongly in order that it might fully be
+brought to the attention of the American people. In 1850 the first
+formal National Woman's Rights Convention assembled in Worcester, Mass.
+To this meeting came a young Quaker woman who was already listed in the
+cause of temperance. In fact, wherever she went Susan B. Anthony entered
+into "causes." She possessed great virtues and abilities, and at the
+same time was capable of very great devotion. "She not only sympathized
+with the Negro; when an opportunity offered she drank tea with him, to
+her own 'unspeakable satisfaction.'"[1] Lucy Stone, an Oberlin graduate,
+was representative of those who came into the agitation by the
+anti-slavery path. Beginning in 1848 to speak as an agent of the
+Anti-Slavery Society, almost from the first she began to introduce the
+matter of woman's rights in her speeches.
+
+[Footnote 1: Ida M. Tarbell: "The American Woman: Her First Declaration
+of Independence," _American Magazine_, February, 1910.]
+
+To the second National Woman's Suffrage Convention, held in Akron, Ohio,
+in 1852, and presided over by Mrs. Frances D. Gage, came Sojourner
+Truth.
+
+The "Libyan Sibyl" was then in the fullness of her powers. She had been
+born of slave parents about 1798 in Ulster County, New York. In her
+later years she remembered vividly the cold, damp cellar-room in which
+slept the slaves of the family to which she belonged, and where she was
+taught by her mother to repeat the Lord's Prayer and to trust in God.
+When in the course of gradual emancipation she became legally free in
+1827, her master refused to comply with the law and kept her in bondage.
+She left, but was pursued and found. Rather than have her go back, a
+friend paid for her services for the rest of the year. Then came an
+evening when, searching for one of her children who had been stolen and
+sold, she found herself a homeless wanderer. A Quaker family gave her
+lodging for the night. Subsequently she went to New York City, joined
+a Methodist church, and worked hard to improve her condition. Later,
+having decided to leave New York for a lecture tour through the East,
+she made a small bundle of her belongings and informed a friend that
+her name was no longer _Isabella_ but _Sojourner_. She went on her
+way, speaking to people wherever she found them assembled and being
+entertained in many aristocratic homes. She was entirely untaught in the
+schools, but was witty, original, and always suggestive. By her tact and
+her gift of song she kept down ridicule, and by her fervor and faith she
+won many friends for the anti-slavery cause. As to her name she said:
+"And the Lord gave me _Sojourner_ because I was to travel up an' down
+the land showin' the people their sins an' bein' a sign unto them.
+Afterwards I told the Lord I wanted another name, 'cause everybody else
+had two names, an' the Lord gave me _Truth_, because I was to declare
+the truth to the people."
+
+On the second day of the convention in Akron, in a corner, crouched
+against the wall, sat this woman of care, her elbows resting on her
+knees, and her chin resting upon her broad, hard palms.[1] In the
+intermission she was employed in selling "The Life of Sojourner Truth."
+From time to time came to the presiding officer the request, "Don't let
+her speak; it will ruin us. Every newspaper in the land will have
+our cause mixed with abolition and niggers, and we shall be utterly
+denounced." Gradually, however, the meeting waxed warm. Baptist,
+Methodist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and Universalist preachers had
+come to hear and discuss the resolutions presented. One argued the
+superiority of the male intellect, another the sin of Eve, and the
+women, most of whom did not "speak in meeting," were becoming filled
+with dismay. Then slowly from her seat in the corner rose Sojourner
+Truth, who till now had scarcely lifted her head. Slowly and solemnly
+to the front she moved, laid her old bonnet at her feet, and turned
+her great, speaking eyes upon the chair. Mrs. Gage, quite equal to the
+occasion, stepped forward and announced "Sojourner Truth," and begged
+the audience to be silent a few minutes. "The tumult subsided at once,
+and every eye was fixed on this almost Amazon form, which stood nearly
+six feet high, head erect, and eye piercing the upper air, like one in a
+dream." At her first word there was a profound hush. She spoke in deep
+tones, which, though not loud, reached every ear in the house, and even
+the throng at the doors and windows. To one man who had ridiculed the
+general helplessness of woman, her needing to be assisted into carriages
+and to be given the best place everywhere, she said, "Nobody eber helped
+me into carriages, or ober mud puddles, or gibs me any best place"; and
+raising herself to her full height, with a voice pitched like rolling
+thunder, she asked, "And a'n't I a woman? Look at me. Look at my arm."
+And she bared her right arm to the shoulder, showing her tremendous
+muscular power. "I have plowed, and planted, and gathered into barns,
+and no man could head me--and a'n't I a woman? I could work as much and
+eat as much as a man, when I could get it, and bear de lash as well--and
+a'n't I a woman? I have borne five chilern and seen 'em mos' all sold
+off into slavery, and when I cried out with a mother's grief, none but
+Jesus heard--and a'n't I a woman?... Dey talks 'bout dis ting in de
+head--what dis dey call it?" "Intellect," said some one near. "Dat's it,
+honey. What's dat got to do with women's rights or niggers' rights? If
+my cup won't hold but a pint and yourn holds a quart, wouldn't ye be
+mean not to let me have my little half-measure full?" And she pointed
+her significant finger and sent a keen glance at the minister who had
+made the argument. The cheering was long and loud. "Den dat little man
+in black dar, he say women can't have as much rights as man, 'cause
+Christ wa'n't a woman. But whar did Christ come from?" Rolling thunder
+could not have stilled that crowd as did those deep, wonderful tones as
+the woman stood there with her outstretched arms and her eyes of fire.
+Raising her voice she repeated, "Whar did Christ come from? From God and
+a woman. Man had nothing to do with Him." Turning to another objector,
+she took up the defense of Eve. She was pointed and witty, solemn and
+serious at will, and at almost every sentence awoke deafening applause;
+and she ended by asserting, "If de fust woman God made was strong enough
+to turn the world upside down, all alone, dese togedder,"--and she
+glanced over the audience--"ought to be able to turn it back and get it
+right side up again, and now dey is askin' to do it, de men better let
+'em."
+
+[Footnote 1: Reminiscences of the president, Mrs. Frances D. Gage, cited
+by Tarbell.]
+
+"Amid roars of applause," wrote Mrs. Gage, "she returned to her corner,
+leaving more than one of us with streaming eyes and hearts beating with
+gratitude." Thus, as so frequently happened, Sojourner Truth turned a
+difficult situation into splendid victory. She not only made an eloquent
+plea for the slave, but placing herself upon the broadest principles of
+humanity, she saved the day for woman suffrage as well.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+LIBERIA
+
+
+In a former chapter we have traced the early development of the American
+Colonization Society, whose efforts culminated in the founding of the
+colony of Liberia. The recent world war, with Africa as its prize, fixed
+attention anew upon the little republic. This comparatively small tract
+of land, just slightly more than one-three hundredth part of the surface
+of Africa, is now of interest and strategic importance not only because
+(if we except Abyssinia, which claims slightly different race origin,
+and Hayti, which is now really under the government of the United
+States) it represents the one distinctively Negro government in the
+world, but also because it is the only tract of land on the great West
+Coast of the continent that has survived, even through the war, the
+aggression of great European powers. It is just at the bend of the
+shoulder of Africa, and its history is as romantic as its situation is
+unique.
+
+Liberia has frequently been referred to as an outstanding example of
+the incapacity of the Negro for self-government. Such a judgment is not
+necessarily correct. It is indeed an open question if, in view of the
+nature of its beginning, the history of the country proves anything one
+way or the other with reference to the capacity of the race. The early
+settlers were frequently only recently out of bondage, but upon them
+were thrust all the problems of maintenance and government, and they
+brought with them, moreover, the false ideas of life and work that
+obtained in the Old South. Sometimes they suffered from neglect,
+sometimes from excessive solicitude; never were they really left alone.
+In spite of all, however, more than a score of native tribes have been
+subdued by only a few thousand civilized men, the republic has preserved
+its integrity, and there has been handed down through the years a
+tradition of constitutional government.
+
+
+
+1. _The Place and the People_
+
+The resources of Liberia are as yet imperfectly known. There is no
+question, however, about the fertility of the interior, or of its
+capacity when properly developed. There are no rivers of the first rank,
+but the longest streams are about three hundred miles in length, and at
+convenient distances apart flow down to a coastline somewhat more than
+three hundred miles long. Here in a tract of land only slightly larger
+than our own state of Ohio are a civilized population between 30,000 and
+100,000 in number, and a native population estimated at 2,000,000. Of
+the civilized population the smaller figure, 30,000, is the more nearly
+correct if we consider only those persons who are fully civilized, and
+this number would be about evenly divided between Americo-Liberians and
+natives. Especially in the towns along the coast, however, there are
+many people who have received only some degree of civilization, and
+most of the households in the larger towns have several native children
+living in them. If all such elements are considered, the total might
+approach 100,000. The natives in their different tribes fall into three
+or four large divisions. In general they follow their native customs,
+and the foremost tribes exhibit remarkable intelligence and skill in
+industry. Outstanding are the dignified Mandingo, with a Mohammedan
+tradition, and the Vai, distinguished for skill in the arts and with a
+culture similar to that of the Mandingo. Also easily recognized are
+the Kpwessi, skillful in weaving and ironwork; the Kru, intelligent,
+sea-faring, and eager for learning; the Grebo, ambitious and aggressive,
+and in language connection close to the Kru; the Bassa, with
+characteristics somewhat similar to those of the Kru, but in general
+not quite so ambitious; the Buzi, wild and highly tattooed; and the
+cannibalistic Mano. By reason of numbers if nothing else, Liberia's
+chief asset for the future consists in her native population.
+
+
+2. _History_
+
+(a) _Colonization and Settlement_
+
+In pursuance of its plans for the founding of a permanent colony on the
+coast of Africa, the American Colonization Society in November, 1817,
+sent out two men, Samuel J. Mills and Ebenezer Burgess, who were
+authorized to find a suitable place for a settlement. Going by way
+of England, these men were cordially received by the officers of the
+African Institution and given letters to responsible persons in Sierra
+Leone. Arriving at the latter place in March, 1818, they met John
+Kizell, a native and a man of influence, who had received some training
+in America and had returned to his people, built a house of worship, and
+become a preacher. Kizell undertook to accompany them on their journey
+down the coast and led the way to Sherbro Island, a place long in
+disputed territory but since included within the limits of Sierra Leone.
+Here the agents were hospitably received; they fixed upon the island as
+a permanent site, and in May turned their faces homeward. Mills died on
+the voyage in June and was buried at sea; but Burgess made a favorable
+report, though the island was afterwards to prove by no means healthy.
+The Society was impressed, but efforts might have languished at this
+important stage if Monroe, now President, had not found it possible to
+bring the resources of the United States Government to assist in
+the project. Smuggling, with the accompanying evil of the sale of
+"recaptured Africans," had by 1818 become a national disgrace, and on
+March 3, 1819, a bill designed to do away with the practice became a
+law. This said in part: "The President of the United States is hereby
+authorized to make such regulations and arrangements as he may deem
+expedient for the safe-keeping, support, and removal beyond the limits
+of the United States, of all such Negroes, mulattoes, or persons of
+color as may be so delivered and brought within their jurisdiction; and
+to appoint a proper person or persons residing upon the coast of Africa
+as agent or agents for receiving the Negroes, mulattoes, or persons of
+color, delivered from on board vessels seized in the prosecution of the
+slave-trade by commanders of the United States armed vessels." For the
+carrying out of the purpose of this act $100,000 was appropriated, and
+Monroe was disposed to construe as broadly as necessary the powers given
+him under it. In his message of December 20, he informed Congress
+that he had appointed Rev. Samuel Bacon, of the American Colonization
+Society, with John Bankson as assistant, to charter a vessel and take
+the first group of emigrants to Africa, the understanding being that
+he was to go to the place fixed upon by Mills and Burgess. Thus the
+National Government and the Colonization Society, while technically
+separate, began to work in practical coöperation. The ship _Elizabeth_
+was made ready for the voyage; the Government informed the Society that
+it would "receive on board such free blacks recommended by the Society
+as might be required for the purpose of the agency"; $33,000 was placed
+in the hands of Mr. Bacon; Rev. Samuel A. Crozer was appointed as the
+Society's official representative; 88 emigrants were brought together
+(33 men and 18 women, the rest being children); and on February 5, 1820,
+convoyed by the war-sloop _Cyane_, the expedition set forth.
+
+An interesting record of the voyage--important for the sidelights it
+gives--was left by Daniel Coker, the respected minister of a large
+Methodist congregation in Baltimore who was persuaded to accompany the
+expedition for the sake of the moral influence that he might be able to
+exert.[1] There was much bad weather at the start, and it was the icy
+sea that on February 4 made it impossible to get under way until the
+next day. On board, moreover, there was much distrust of the agents in
+charge, with much questioning of their motives; nor were matters made
+better by a fight between one of the emigrants and the captain of the
+vessel. It was a restless company, uncertain as to the future, and
+dissatisfied and peevish from day to day. Kizell afterwards remarked
+that "some would not be governed by white men, and some would not be
+governed by black men, and some would not be governed by mulattoes; but
+the truth was they did not want to be governed by anybody." On March 3,
+however, the ship sighted the Cape Verde Islands and six days afterwards
+was anchored at Sierra Leone; and Coker rejoiced that at last he had
+seen Africa. Kizell, however, whom the agents had counted on seeing,
+was found to be away at Sherbro; accordingly, six days after their
+arrival[2] they too were making efforts to go on to Sherbro, for they
+were allowed at anchor only fifteen days and time was passing rapidly.
+Meanwhile Bankson went to find Kizell. Captain Sebor was at first
+decidedly unwilling to go further; but his reluctance was at length
+overcome; Bacon purchased for $3,000 a British schooner that had
+formerly been engaged in the slave-trade; and on March 17 both ship and
+schooner got under way for Sherbro. The next day they met Bankson, who
+informed them that he had seen Kizell. This man, although he had not
+heard from America since the departure of Mills and Burgess, had already
+erected some temporary houses against the rainy season. He permitted the
+newcomers to stay in his little town until land could be obtained; sent
+them twelve fowls and a bushel of rice; but he also, with both dignity
+and pathos, warned Bankson that if he and his companions came with
+Christ in their hearts, it was well that they had come; if not, it would
+have been better if they had stayed in America.
+
+[Footnote 1: "Journal of Daniel Coker, a descendant of Africa, from the
+time of leaving New York, in the ship _Elizabeth_, Capt. Sebor, on a
+voyage for Sherbro, in Africa. Baltimore, 1820."]
+
+[Footnote 2: March 15. The narrative, page 26, says February 15, but
+this is obviously a typographical error.]
+
+Now followed much fruitless bargaining with the native chiefs, in all of
+which Coker regretted that the slave-traders had so ruined the people
+that it seemed impossible to make any progress in a "palaver" without
+the offering of rum. Meanwhile a report was circulated through the
+country that a number of Americans had come and turned Kizell out of his
+own town and put some of his people in the hold of their ship. Disaster
+followed disaster. The marsh, the bad water, and the malaria played
+havoc with the colonists, and all three of the responsible agents died.
+The few persons who remained alive made their way back to Sierra Leone.
+
+Thus the first expedition failed. One year later, in March, 1821, a new
+company of twenty-one emigrants, in charge of J.B. Winn and Ephraim
+Bacon, arrived at Freetown in the brig _Nautilus_. It had been the
+understanding that in return for their passage the members of the first
+expedition would clear the way for others; but when the agents of the
+new company saw the plight of those who remained alive, they brought all
+of the colonists together at Fourah Bay, and Bacon went farther down the
+coast to seek a more favorable site. A few persons who did not wish to
+go to Fourah Bay remained in Sierra Leone and became British subjects.
+Bacon found a promising tract about two hundred and fifty miles down the
+coast at Cape Montserado; but the natives were not especially eager to
+sell, as they did not wish to break up the slave traffic. Meanwhile Winn
+and several more of the colonists died; and Bacon now returned to the
+United States. The second expedition had thus proved to be little more
+successful than the first; but the future site of Monrovia had at least
+been suggested.
+
+In November came Dr. Eli Ayres as agent of the Society, and in December
+Captain Robert F. Stockton of the _Alligator_ with instructions to
+coöperate. These two men explored the coast and on December 11 arrived
+at Mesurado Bay. Through the jungle they made their way to a village and
+engaged in a palaver with King Peter and five of his associates. The
+negotiations were conducted in the presence of an excited crowd and with
+imminent danger; but Stockton had great tact and at length, for the
+equivalent of $300, he and Ayres purchased the mouth of the Mesurado
+River, Cape Montserado, and the land for some distance in the interior.
+There was also an understanding (for half a dozen gallons of rum and
+some trade-cloth and tobacco) with King George, who "resided on the Cape
+and claimed a sort of jurisdiction over the northern district of the
+peninsula of Montserado, by virtue of which the settlers were permitted
+to pass across the river and commence the laborious task of clearing
+away the heavy forest which covered the site of their intended town."[1]
+Then the agent returned to effect the removal of the colonists from
+Fourah Bay, leaving a very small company as a sort of guard on
+Perseverance (or Providence) Island at the mouth of the river. Some
+of the colonists refused to leave, remained, and thus became British
+subjects. For those who had remained on the island there was trouble at
+once. A small vessel, the prize of an English cruiser, bound to Sierra
+Leone with thirty liberated Africans, put into the roads for water, and
+had the misfortune to part her cable and come ashore. "The natives claim
+to a prescriptive right, which interest never fails to enforce to its
+fullest extent, to seize and appropriate the wrecks and cargoes of
+vessels stranded, under whatever circumstances, on their coast."[2] The
+vessel in question drifted to the mainland one mile from the cape, a
+small distance below George's town, and the natives proceeded to act in
+accordance with tradition. They were fired on by the prize master and
+forced to desist, and the captain appealed to the few colonists on the
+island for assistance. They brought into play a brass field piece, and
+two of the natives were killed and several more wounded. The English
+officer, his crew, and the captured Africans escaped, though the small
+vessel was lost; but the next day the Deys (the natives), feeling
+outraged, made another attack, in the course of which some of them
+and one of the colonists were killed. In the course of the operations
+moreover, through the carelessness of some of the settlers themselves,
+fire was communicated to the storehouse and $3000 worth of property
+destroyed, though the powder and some of the provisions were saved. Thus
+at the very beginning, by accident though it happened, the shadow of
+England fell across the young colony, involving it in difficulties with
+the natives. When then Ayres returned with the main crowd of settlers on
+January 7, 1822--which arrival was the first real landing of settlers on
+what is now Liberian soil--he found that the Deys wished to annul the
+agreement previously made and to give back the articles paid. He himself
+was seized in the course of a palaver, and he was able to arrive at no
+better understanding than that the colonists might remain only until
+they could make a new purchase elsewhere. Now appeared on the scene
+Boatswain, a prominent chief from the interior who sometimes exercised
+jurisdiction over the coast tribes and who, hearing that there was
+trouble in the bay, had come hither, bringing with him a sufficient
+following to enforce his decrees. Through this man shone something of
+the high moral principle so often to be observed in responsible African
+chiefs, and to him Ayres appealed. Hearing the story he decided in
+favor of the colonists, saying to Peter, "Having sold your country and
+accepted payment, you must take the consequences. Let the Americans
+have their land immediately." To the agent he said, "I promise you
+protection. If these people give you further disturbance, send for me;
+and I swear, if they oblige me to come again to quiet them, I will do
+it to purpose, by taking their heads from their shoulders, as I did old
+king George's on my last visit to the coast to settle disputes." Thus on
+the word of a native chief was the foundation of Liberia assured.
+
+[Footnote 1: Ashmun: _History of the American Colony in Liberia, from
+1821 to 1823_, 8.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Ashmun, 9.]
+
+By the end of April all of the colonists who were willing to move had
+been brought from Sierra Leone to their new home. It was now decided
+to remove from the low and unhealthy island to the higher land of
+Cape Montserado only a few hundred feet away; on April 28 there was a
+ceremony of possession and the American flag was raised. The advantages
+of the new position were obvious, to the natives as well as the
+colonists, and the removal was attended with great excitement. By July
+the island was completely abandoned. Meanwhile, however, things had not
+been going well. The Deys had been rendered very hostile, and from them
+there was constant danger of attack. The rainy season moreover had set
+in, shelter was inadequate, supplies were low, and the fever continually
+claimed its victims. Ayres at length became discouraged. He proposed
+that the enterprise be abandoned and that the settlers return to Sierra
+Leone, and on June 4 he did actually leave with a few of them. It was
+at this juncture that Elijah Johnson, one of the most heroic of the
+colonists, stepped forth to fame.
+
+The early life of the man is a blank. In 1789 he was taken to New
+Jersey. He received some instruction and studied for the Methodist
+ministry, took part in the War of 1812, and eagerly embraced the
+opportunity to be among the first to come to the new colony. To the
+suggestion that the enterprise be abandoned he replied, "Two years long
+have I sought a home; here I have found it; here I remain." To him the
+great heart of the colonists responded. Among the natives he was known
+and respected as a valiant fighter. He lived until March 23, 1849.
+
+Closely associated with Johnson, his colleague in many an effort and
+the pioneer in mission work, was the Baptist minister, Lott Cary,
+from Richmond, Va., who also had become one of the first permanent
+settlers.[1] He was a man of most unusual versatility and force of
+character. He died November 8, 1828, as the result of a powder explosion
+that occurred while he was acting in defense of the colony against the
+Deys.
+
+[Footnote 1: See Chapter III, Section 5.]
+
+July (1822) was a hard month for the settlers. Not only were their
+supplies almost exhausted, but they were on a rocky cape and the natives
+would not permit any food to be brought to them. On August 8, however,
+arrived Jehudi Ashmun, a young man from Vermont who had worked as a
+teacher and as the editor of a religious publication for some years
+before coming on this mission. He brought with him a company of
+liberated Africans and emigrants to the number of fifty-five, and as he
+did not intend to remain permanently he had yielded to the entreaty of
+his wife and permitted her to accompany him on the voyage. He held no
+formal commission from the American Colonization Society, but seeing the
+situation he felt that it was his duty to do what he could to relieve
+the distress; and he faced difficulties from the very first. On the day
+after his arrival his own brig, the _Strong_, was in danger of being
+lost; the vessel parted its cable, and on the following morning broke it
+again and drifted until it was landlocked between Cape Montserado and
+Cape Mount. A small anchor was found, however, and the brig was again
+moored, but five miles from the settlement. The rainy season was now on
+in full force; there was no proper place for the storing of provisions;
+and even with the newcomers it soon developed that there were in the
+colony only thirty-five men capable of bearing arms, so great had been
+the number of deaths from the fever. Sometimes almost all of these
+were sick; on September 10 only two were in condition for any kind of
+service. Ashmun tried to make terms with the native chiefs, but their
+malignity was only partially concealed. His wife languished before
+his eyes and died September 15, just five weeks after her arrival. He
+himself was incapacitated for several months, nor at the height of his
+illness was he made better by the ministrations of a French charlatan.
+He never really recovered from the great inroads made upon his strength
+at this time.
+
+As a protection from sudden attack a clearing around the settlement was
+made. Defenses had to be erected without tools, and so great was the
+anxiety that throughout the months of September and October a nightly
+watch of twenty men was kept. On Sunday, November 10, the report was
+circulated that the Deys were crossing the Mesurado River, and at night
+it became known that seven or eight hundred were on the peninsula only
+half a mile to the west. The attack came at early dawn on the 11th and
+the colonists might have been annihilated if they had not brought
+a field-piece into play. When this was turned against the natives
+advancing in compact array, it literally tore through masses of living
+flesh until scores of men were killed. Even so the Deys might have won
+the engagement if they had not stopped too soon to gather plunder. As
+it was, they were forced to retreat. Of the settlers three men and one
+woman were killed, two men and two women injured, and several children
+taken captive, though these were afterwards returned. At this time
+the colonists suffered greatly from the lack of any supplies for the
+treatment of wounds. Only medicines for the fever were on hand, and in
+the hot climate those whose flesh had been torn by bullets suffered
+terribly. In this first encounter, as often in these early years, the
+real burden of conflict fell upon Cary and Johnson. After the battle
+these men found that they had on hand ammunition sufficient for only one
+hour's defense. All were placed on a special allowance of provisions and
+November 23 was observed as a day of prayer. A passing vessel furnished
+additional supplies and happily delayed for some days the inevitable
+attack. This came from two sides very early in the morning of December
+2. There was a desperate battle. Three bullets passed through Ashmun's
+clothes, one of the gunners was killed, and repeated attacks were
+resisted only with the most dogged determination. An accident, or, as
+the colonists regarded it, a miracle, saved them from destruction. A
+guard, hearing a noise, discharged a large gun and several muskets.
+The schooner _Prince Regent_ was passing, with Major Laing, Midshipman
+Gordon, and eleven specially trained men on board. The officers, hearing
+the sound of guns, came ashore to see what was the trouble. Major Laing
+offered assistance if ground was given for the erection of a British
+flag, and generally attempted to bring about an adjustment of
+difficulties on the basis of submitting these to the governor of Sierra
+Leone. To these propositions Elijah Johnson replied, "We want no
+flagstaff put up here that it will cost more to get down than it will
+to whip the natives." However, Gordon and the men under him were left
+behind for the protection of the colony until further help could arrive.
+Within one month he and seven of the eleven were dead. He himself had
+found a ready place in the hearts of the settlers, and to him and his
+men Liberia owes much. They came in a needy hour and gave their lives
+for the cause of freedom.
+
+An American steamer passing in December, 1822, gave some temporary
+relief. On March 31, 1823, the _Cyane_, with Capt. R.T. Spence in
+charge, arrived from America with supplies. As many members of his crew
+became ill after only a few days, Spence soon deemed it advisable to
+leave. His chief clerk, however, Richard Seaton, heroically volunteered
+to help with the work, remained behind, and died after only three
+months. On May 24 came the _Oswego_ with sixty-one new colonists and
+Dr. Ayres, who, already the Society's agent, now returned with the
+additional authority of Government agent and surgeon. He made a survey
+and attempted a new allotment of land, only to find that the colony was
+soon in ferment, because some of those who possessed the best holdings
+or who had already made the beginnings of homes, were now required to
+give these up. There was so much rebellion that in December Ayres
+again deemed it advisable to leave. The year 1823 was in fact chiefly
+noteworthy for the misunderstandings that arose between the colonists
+and Ashmun. This man had been placed in a most embarrassing situation by
+the arrival of Dr. Ayres.[1] He not only found himself superseded in the
+government, but had the additional misfortune to learn that his drafts
+had been dishonored and that no provision had been made to remunerate
+him for his past services or provide for his present needs. Finding his
+services undervalued, and even the confidence of the Society withheld,
+he was naturally indignant, though his attachment to the cause remained
+steadfast. Seeing the authorized agent leaving the colony, and the
+settlers themselves in a state of insubordination, with no formal
+authority behind him he yet resolved to forget his own wrongs and to do
+what he could to save from destruction that for which he had already
+suffered so much. He was young and perhaps not always as tactful as he
+might have been. On the other hand, the colonists had not yet learned
+fully to appreciate the real greatness of the man with whom they were
+dealing. As for the Society at home, not even so much can be said. The
+real reason for the withholding of confidence from Ashmun was that many
+of the members objected to his persistent attacks on the slave-trade.
+
+[Footnote 1: Stockwell, 73.]
+
+By the regulations that governed the colony at the time, each man who
+received rations was required to contribute to the general welfare
+two days of labor a week. Early in December twelve men cast off all
+restraint, and on the 13th Ashmun published a notice in which he said:
+"There are in the colony more than a dozen healthy persons who will
+receive no more provisions out of the public store until they earn
+them." On the 19th, in accordance with this notice, the provisions of
+the recalcitrants were stopped. The next morning, however, the men went
+to the storehouse, and while provisions were being issued, each seized
+a portion and went to his home. Ashmun now issued a circular, reminding
+the colonists of all of their struggles together and generally pointing
+out to them how such a breach of discipline struck at the very heart of
+the settlement. The colonists rallied to his support and the twelve men
+returned to duty. The trouble, however, was not yet over. On March 19,
+1824, Ashmun found it necessary to order a cut in provisions. He had
+previously declared to the Board that in his opinion the evil was
+"incurable by any of the remedies which fall within the existing
+provisions"; and counter remonstrances had been sent by the colonists,
+who charged him with oppression, neglect of duty, and the seizure of
+public property. He now, seeing that his latest order was especially
+unpopular, prepared new despatches, on March 22 reviewed the whole
+course of his conduct in a strong and lengthy address, and by the last
+of the month had left the colony.
+
+Meanwhile the Society, having learned that things were not going well
+with the colony, had appointed its secretary, Rev. R.R. Gurley, to
+investigate conditions. Gurley met Ashmun at the Cape Verde Islands and
+urgently requested that he return to Monrovia.[1] This Ashmun was not
+unwilling to do, as he desired the fullest possible investigation into
+his conduct. Gurley was in Liberia from August 13 to August 22, 1824,
+only; but from the time of his visit conditions improved. Ashmun was
+fully vindicated and remained for four years more until his strength
+was all but spent. There was adopted what was known as the Gurley
+Constitution. According to this the agent in charge was to have supreme
+charge and preside at all public meetings. He was to be assisted,
+however, by eleven officers annually chosen, the most important of whom
+he was to appoint on nomination by the colonists. Among these were
+a vice-agent, two councilors, two justices of the peace, and two
+constables. There was to be a guard of twelve privates, two corporals,
+and one sergeant.
+
+[Footnote 1: This name, in honor of President Monroe, had recently been
+adopted by the Society at the suggestion of Robert Goodloe Harper, of
+Maryland, who also suggested the name _Liberia_ for the country. Harper
+himself was afterwards honored by having the chief town in Maryland in
+Africa named after him.]
+
+For a long time it was the custom of the American Colonization Society
+to send out two main shipments of settlers a year, one in the spring
+and one in the fall. On February 13, 1824, arrived a little more than
+a hundred emigrants, mainly from Petersburg, Va. These people were
+unusually intelligent and industrious and received a hearty welcome.
+Within a month practically all of them were sick with the fever. On
+this occasion, as on many others, Lott Cary served as physician, and so
+successful was he that only three of the sufferers died. Another company
+of unusual interest was that which arrived early in 1826. It brought
+along a printer, a press with the necessary supplies, and books sent by
+friends in Boston. Unfortunately the printer was soon disabled by the
+fever.
+
+Sickness, however, and wars with the natives were not the only handicaps
+that engaged the attention of the colony in these years. "At this period
+the slave-trade was carried on extensively within sight of Monrovia.
+Fifteen vessels were engaged in it at the same time, almost under the
+guns of the settlement; and in July of this year a contract was existing
+for eight hundred slaves to be furnished, in the short space of four
+months, within eight miles of the cape. Four hundred of these were to be
+purchased for two American traders."[1] Ashmun attacked the Spaniards
+engaged in the traffic, and labored generally to break up slave
+factories. On one occasion he received as many as one hundred and
+sixteen slaves into the colony as freemen. He also adopted an attitude
+of justice toward the native Krus. Of special importance was the attack
+on Trade Town, a stronghold of French and Spanish traders about one
+hundred miles below Monrovia. Here there were not less than three large
+factories. On the day of the battle, April 10, there were three hundred
+and fifty natives on shore under the direction of the traders, but the
+colonists had the assistance of some American vessels, and a Liberian
+officer, Captain Barbour, was of outstanding courage and ability. The
+town was fired after eighty slaves had been surrendered. The flames
+reached the ammunition of the enemy and over two hundred and fifty casks
+of gunpowder exploded. By July, however, the traders had built a battery
+at Trade Town and were prepared to give more trouble. All the same a
+severe blow had been dealt to their work.
+
+[Footnote 1: Stockwell, 79.]
+
+In his report rendered at the close of 1825 Ashmun showed that the
+settlers were living in neatness and comfort; two chapels had been
+built, and the militia was well organized, equipped, and disciplined.
+The need of some place for the temporary housing of immigrants having
+more and more impressed itself upon the colony, before the end of 1826
+a "receptacle" capable of holding one hundred and fifty persons was
+erected. Ashmun himself served on until 1828, by which time his strength
+was completely spent. He sailed for America early in the summer and
+succeeded in reaching New Haven, only to die after a few weeks. No man
+had given more for the founding of Liberia. The principal street in
+Monrovia is named after him.
+
+Aside from wars with the natives, the most noteworthy being the Dey-Gola
+war of 1832, the most important feature of Liberian history in
+the decade 1828-1838 was the development along the coast of other
+settlements than Monrovia. These were largely the outgrowth of the
+activity of local branch organizations of the American Colonization
+Society, and they were originally supposed to have the oversight of the
+central organization and of the colony of Monrovia. The circumstances
+under which they were founded, however, gave them something of a feeling
+of independence which did much to influence their history. Thus arose,
+about seventy-five miles farther down the coast, under the auspices
+especially of the New York and Pennsylvania societies, the Grand Bassa
+settlements at the mouth of the St. John's River, the town Edina being
+outstanding. Nearly a hundred miles farther south, at the mouth of
+the Sino River, another colony developed as its most important town
+Greenville; and as most of the settlers in this vicinity came from
+Mississippi, their province became known as Mississippi in Africa. A
+hundred miles farther, on Cape Palmas, just about twenty miles from the
+Cavalla River marking the boundary of the French possessions, developed
+the town of Harper in what became known as Maryland in Africa. This
+colony was even more aloof than others from the parent settlement of
+the American Colonization Society. When the first colonists arrived at
+Monrovia in 1831, they were not very cordially received, there being
+trouble about the allotment of land. They waited for some months for
+reënforcements and then sailed down the coast to the vicinity of the
+Cavalla River, where they secured land for their future home and where
+their distance from the other colonists from America made it all the
+more easy for them to cultivate their tradition of independence.[1]
+These four ports are now popularly known as Monrovia, Grand Bassa, Sino,
+and Cape Palmas; and to them for general prominence might now be added
+Cape Mount, about fifty miles from Monrovia higher up the coast and just
+a few miles from the Mano River, which now marks the boundary between
+Sierra Leone and Liberia. In 1838, on a constitution drawn up by
+Professor Greenleaf, of Harvard College, was organized the "Commonwealth
+of Liberia," the government of which was vested in a Board of Directors
+composed of delegates from the state societies, and which included all
+the settlements except Maryland. This remote colony, whose seaport is
+Cape Palmas, did not join with the others until 1857, ten years after
+Liberia had become an independent republic. When a special company
+of settlers arrived from Baltimore and formally occupied Cape Palmas
+(1834), Dr. James Hall was governor and he served in this capacity
+until 1836, when failing health forced him to return to America. He was
+succeeded by John B. Russwurm, a young Negro who had come to Liberia
+in 1829 for the purpose of superintending the system of education. The
+country, however, was not yet ready for the kind of work he wanted
+to do, and in course of time he went into politics. He served very
+efficiently as Governor of Maryland from 1836 to 1851, especially
+exerting himself to standardize the currency and to stabilize the
+revenues. Five years after his death Maryland suffered greatly from an
+attack by the Greboes, twenty-six colonists being killed. An appeal to
+Monrovia for help led to the sending of a company of men and later to
+the incorporation of the colony in the Republic.
+
+[Footnote 1: McPherson is especially valuable for his study of the
+Maryland colony.]
+
+Of the events of the period special interest attaches to the murder of
+I.F.C. Finley, Governor of Mississippi in Africa, to whose father, Rev.
+Robert Finley, the organization of the American Colonization Society
+had been very largely due. In September, 1838, Governor Finley left his
+colony to go to Monrovia on business, and making a landing at Bassa
+Cove, he was robbed and killed by the Krus. This unfortunate murder
+led to a bitter conflict between the settlers in the vicinity and the
+natives. This is sometimes known as the Fish War (from being waged
+around Fishpoint) and did not really cease for a year.
+
+(b) The Commonwealth of Liberia
+
+The first governor of the newly formed Commonwealth was Thomas H.
+Buchanan, a man of singular energy who represented the New York and
+Pennsylvania societies and who had come in 1836 especially to take
+charge of the Grand Bassa settlements. Becoming governor in 1838, he
+found it necessary to proceed vigorously against the slave dealers at
+Trade Town. He was also victorious in 1840 in a contest with the Gola
+tribe led by Chief Gatumba. The Golas had defeated the Dey tribe so
+severely that a mere remnant of the latter had taken refuge with the
+colonists at Millsburg, a station a few miles up the St. Paul's River.
+Thus, as happened more than once, a tribal war in time involved the very
+existence of the new American colonies. Governor Buchanan's victory
+greatly increased his prestige and made it possible for him to negotiate
+more and more favorable treaties with the natives. A contest of
+different sort was that with a Methodist missionary, John Seyes, who
+held that all goods used by missionaries, including those sold to the
+natives, should be admitted free of duty. The governor contended that
+such privilege should be extended only to goods intended for the
+personal use of missionaries; and the Colonization Society stood behind
+him in this opinion. As early as 1840 moreover some shadow of future
+events was cast by trouble made by English traders on the Mano River,
+the Sierra Leone boundary. Buchanan sent an agent to England to
+represent him in an inquiry into the matter; but in the midst of his
+vigorous work he died in 1841. He was the last white man formally under
+any auspices at the head of Liberian affairs. Happily his period of
+service had given opportunity and training to an efficient helper, upon
+whom now the burden fell and of whom it is hardly too much to say that
+he is the foremost figure in Liberian history.
+
+Joseph Jenkin Roberts was a mulatto born in Virginia in 1809. At the
+age of twenty, with his widowed mother and younger brothers, he went to
+Liberia and engaged in trade. In course of time he proved to be a man of
+unusual tact and graciousness of manner, moving with ease among people
+of widely different rank. His abilities soon demanded recognition, and
+he was at the head of the force that defeated Gatumba. As governor he
+realized the need of cultivating more far-reaching diplomacy than the
+Commonwealth had yet known. He had the coöperation of the Maryland
+governor, Russwurm, in such a matter as that of uniform customs duties;
+and he visited the United States, where he made a very good impression.
+He soon understood that he had to reckon primarily with the English and
+the French. England had indeed assumed an attitude of opposition to
+the slave-trade; but her traders did not scruple to sell rum to slave
+dealers, and especially were they interested in the palm oil of Liberia.
+When the Commonwealth sought to impose customs duties, England took the
+position that as Liberia was not an independent government, she had no
+right to do so; and the English attitude had some show of strength
+from the fact that the American Colonization Society, an outside
+organization, had a veto power over whatever Liberia might do. When in
+1845 the Liberian Government seized the _Little Ben_, an English trading
+vessel whose captain acted in defiance of the revenue laws, the British
+in turn seized the _John Seyes_, belonging to a Liberian named Benson,
+and sold the vessel for £8000. Liberia appealed to the United States;
+but the Oregon boundary question as well as slavery had given the
+American Government problems enough at home; and the Secretary of State,
+Edward Everett, finally replied to Lord Aberdeen (1845) that America
+was not "presuming to settle differences arising between Liberian and
+British subjects, the Liberians being responsible for their own acts."
+The Colonization Society, powerless to act except through its own
+government, in January, 1846, resolved that "the time had arrived when
+it was expedient for the people of the Commonwealth of Liberia to take
+into their own hands the whole work of self-government including the
+management of all their foreign relations." Forced to act for herself
+Liberia called a constitutional convention and on July 26, 1847, issued
+a Declaration of Independence and adopted the Constitution of the
+Liberian Republic. In October, Joseph Jenkin Roberts, Governor of the
+Commonwealth, was elected the first President of the Republic.
+
+It may well be questioned if by 1847 Liberia had developed sufficiently
+internally to be able to assume the duties and responsibilities of an
+independent power. There were at the time not more than 4,500 civilized
+people of American origin in the country; these were largely illiterate
+and scattered along a coastline more than three hundred miles in length.
+It is not to be supposed, however, that this consummation had been
+attained without much yearning and heart-beat and high spiritual fervor.
+There was something pathetic in the effort of this small company, most
+of whose members had never seen Africa but for the sake of their race
+had made their way back to the fatherland. The new seal of the Republic
+bore the motto: THE LOVE OF LIBERTY BROUGHT US HERE. The flag, modeled
+on that of the United States, had six red and five white stripes for
+the eleven signers of the Declaration of Independence, and in the upper
+corner next to the staff a lone white star in a field of blue. The
+Declaration itself said in part:
+
+    We, the people of the Republic of Liberia, were originally
+    inhabitants of the United States of North America.
+
+    In some parts of that country we were debarred by law from all the
+    rights and privileges of men; in other parts public sentiment, more
+    powerful than law, frowned us down.
+
+    We were everywhere shut out from all civil office.
+
+    We were excluded from all participation in the government.
+
+    We were taxed without our consent.
+
+    We were compelled to contribute to the resources of a country which
+    gave us no protection.
+
+    We were made a separate and distinct class, and against us every
+    avenue of improvement was effectually closed. Strangers from all
+    lands of a color different from ours were preferred before us.
+
+    We uttered our complaints, but they were unattended to, or met only
+    by alleging the peculiar institution of the country.
+
+    All hope of a favorable change in our country was thus wholly
+    extinguished in our bosom, and we looked with anxiety abroad for
+    some asylum from the deep degradation.
+
+    The Western coast of Africa was the place selected by American
+    benevolence and philanthropy for our future home. Removed beyond
+    those influences which depressed us in our native land, it was
+    hoped we would be enabled to enjoy those rights and privileges, and
+    exercise and improve those faculties, which the God of nature had
+    given us in common with the rest of mankind.
+
+(c) _The Republic of Liberia_
+
+With the adoption of its constitution the Republic of Liberia formally
+asked to be considered in the family of nations; and since 1847
+the history of the country has naturally been very largely that of
+international relations. In fact, preoccupation with the questions
+raised by powerful neighbors has been at least one strong reason for the
+comparatively slow internal development of the country. The Republic
+was officially recognized by England in 1848, by France in 1852, but on
+account of slavery not by the United States until 1862. Continuously
+there has been an observance of the forms of order, and only one
+president has been deposed. For a long time the presidential term was
+two years in length; but by an act of 1907 it was lengthened to four
+years. From time to time there have been two political parties, but not
+always has such a division been emphasized.
+
+It is well to pause and note exactly what was the task set before the
+little country. A company of American Negroes suddenly found themselves
+placed on an unhealthy and uncultivated coast which was thenceforth to
+be their home. If we compare them with the Pilgrim Fathers, we find that
+as the Pilgrims had to subdue the Indians, so they had to hold their own
+against a score of aggressive tribes. The Pilgrims had the advantage of
+a thousand years of culture and experience in government; the Negroes,
+only recently out of bondage, had been deprived of any opportunity for
+improvement whatsoever. Not only, however, did they have to contend
+against native tribes and labor to improve their own shortcomings; on
+every hand they had to meet the designs of nations supposedly more
+enlightened and Christian. On the coast Spanish traders defied
+international law; on one side the English, and on the other the French,
+from the beginning showed a tendency toward arrogance and encroachment.
+To crown the difficulty, the American Government, under whose auspices
+the colony had largely been founded, became more and more halfhearted
+in its efforts for protection and at length abandoned the enterprise
+altogether. It did not cease, however, to regard the colony as the
+dumping-ground of its own troubles, and whenever a vessel with slaves
+from the Congo was captured on the high seas, it did not hesitate to
+take these people to the Liberian coast and leave them there, nearly
+dead though they might be from exposure or cramping. It is well for
+one to remember such facts as these before he is quick to belittle or
+criticize. To the credit of the "Congo men" be it said that from the
+first they labored to make themselves a quiet and industrious element in
+the body politic.
+
+The early administrations of President Roberts (four terms, 1848-1855)
+were mainly devoted to the quelling of the native tribes that continued
+to give trouble and to the cultivating of friendly relations with
+foreign powers. Soon after his inauguration Roberts made a visit to
+England, the power from which there was most to fear; and on this
+occasion as on several others England varied her arrogance with a rather
+excessive friendliness toward the little republic. She presented to
+Roberts the _Lark_, a ship with four guns, and sent the President home
+on a war-vessel. Some years afteryards, when the _Lark_ was out of
+repair, England sent instead a schooner, the _Quail_. Roberts made a
+second visit to England in 1852 to adjust disputes with traders on the
+western boundary. He also visited France, and Louis Napoleon, not to be
+outdone by England, presented to him a vessel, the _Hirondelle_, and
+also guns and uniforms for his soldiers. In general the administrations
+of Roberts (we might better say his first series of administrations, for
+he was later to be called again to office) made a period of constructive
+statesmanship and solid development, and not a little of the respect
+that the young republic won was due to the personal influence of its
+first president. Roberts, however, happened to be very fair, and
+generally successful though his administrations were, the desire on the
+part of the people that the highest office in the country be held by a
+black man seems to have been a determining factor in the choice of his
+successor. There was an interesting campaign toward the close of his
+last term. "There were about this time two political parties in the
+country--the old Republicans and the 'True Liberians,' a party which had
+been formed in opposition to Roberts's foreign policies. But during the
+canvass the platform of this new party lost ground; the result was in
+favor of the Republican candidate."[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Karnga, 28.]
+
+Stephen Allen Benson (four terms, 1856-1863) was forced to meet in one
+way or another almost all of the difficulties that have since played a
+part in the life of the Liberian people. He had come to the country in
+1822 at the age of six and had developed into a practical and efficient
+merchant. To his high office he brought the same principles of sobriety
+and good sense that had characterized him in business. On February 28,
+1857, the independent colony of Maryland formally became a part of the
+republic. This action followed immediately upon the struggle with the
+Greboes in the vicinity of Cape Palmas in which assistance was rendered
+by the Liberians under Ex-President Roberts. In 1858 an incident that
+threatened complications with France but that was soon happily closed
+arose from the fact that a French vessel which sought to carry away some
+Kru laborers to the West Indies was attacked by these men when they had
+reason to fear that they might be sold into slavery and not have to work
+simply along the coast, as they at first supposed. The ship was seized
+and all but one of the crew, the physician, were killed. Trouble
+meanwhile continued with British smugglers in the West, and to this
+whole matter we shall have to give further and special attention. In
+1858 and a year or two thereafter the numerous arrivals from America,
+especially of Congo men captured on the high seas, were such as to
+present a serious social problem. Flagrant violation by the South of the
+laws against the slave-trade led to the seizure by the United States
+Government of many Africans. Hundreds of these people were detained at a
+time at such a port as Key West. The Government then adopted the policy
+of ordering commanders who seized slave-ships at sea to land the
+Africans directly upon the coast of Liberia without first bringing them
+to America, and appropriated $250,000 for the removal and care of those
+at Key West. The suffering of many of these people is one of the most
+tragic stories in the history of slavery. To Liberia came at one time
+619, at another 867, and within two months as many as 4000. There was
+very naturally consternation on the part of the people at this sudden
+immigration, especially as many of the Africans arrived cramped or
+paralyzed or otherwise ill from the conditions under which they had been
+forced to travel. President Benson stated the problem to the American
+Government; the United States sent some money to Liberia, the people of
+the Republic helped in every way they could, and the whole situation was
+finally adjusted without any permanently bad effects, though it is well
+for students to remember just what Liberia had to face at this time.
+Important toward the close of Benson's terms was the completion of the
+building of the Liberia College, of which Joseph Jenkin Roberts became
+the first president.
+
+The administrations of Daniel Bashiel Warner (two terms, 1864-1867) and
+the earlier one of James Spriggs Payne (1868-1869) were comparatively
+uneventful. Both of these men were Republicans, but Warner represented
+something of the shifting of political parties at the time. At first
+a Republican, he went over to the Whig party devoted to the policy of
+preserving Liberia from white invasion. Moved to distrust of English
+merchants, who delighted in defrauding the little republic, he
+established an important Ports-of-Entry Law in 1865, which it is hardly
+necessary to say was very unpopular with the foreigners. Commerce was
+restricted to six ports and a circle six miles in diameter around each
+port. On account of the Civil War and the hopes that emancipation held
+out to the Negroes in the United States, immigration from America ceased
+rapidly; but a company of 346 came from Barbadoes at this time. The
+Liberian Government assisted these people with $4000, set apart for each
+man an allotment of twenty-five rather than the customary ten acres; the
+Colonization Society appropriated $10,000, and after a pleasant voyage
+of thirty-three days they arrived without the loss of a single life. In
+the company was a little boy, Arthur Barclay, who was later to be known
+as the President of the Republic. At the semi-centennial of the American
+Colonization Society held in Washington in January, 1867, it was shown
+that the Society and its auxiliaries had been directly responsible for
+the sending of more than 12,000 persons to Africa. Of these 4541
+had been born free, 344 had purchased their freedom, 5957 had been
+emancipated to go to Africa, and 1227 had been settled by the Maryland
+Society. In addition, 5722 captured Africans had been sent to Liberia.
+The need of adequate study of the interior having more and more
+impressed itself, Benjamin Anderson, an adventurous explorer, assisted
+with funds by a citizen of New York, in 1869 studied the country for two
+hundred miles from the coast. He found the land constantly rising, and
+made his way to Musardu, the chief city of the western Mandingoes. He
+summed up his work in his _Narrative of a Journey to Musardo_ and made
+another journey of exploration in 1874.
+
+Edward James Roye (1870-October 26, 1871), a Whig whose party was formed
+out of the elements of the old True Liberian party, attracts attention
+by reason of a notorious British loan to which further reference must
+be made. Of the whole amount of £100,000 sums were wasted or
+misappropriated until it has been estimated that the country really
+reaped the benefit of little more than a quarter of the whole amount.
+President Roye added to other difficulties by his seizure of a bank
+building belonging to an Industrial Society of the St. Paul's River
+settlements, and by attempting by proclamation to lengthen his term
+of office. Twice a constitutional amendment for lengthening the
+presidential term from two years to four had been considered and voted
+down. Roye contested the last vote, insisted that his term ran to
+January, 1874, and issued a proclamation forbidding the coming biennial
+election. He was deposed, his house sacked, some of his cabinet officers
+tried before a court of impeachment,[1] and he himself was drowned as he
+was pursued while attempting to escape to a British ship in the harbor.
+A committee of three was appointed to govern the country until a new
+election could be held; and in this hour of storm and stress the people
+turned once more to the guidance of their old leader, Joseph J. Roberts
+(two terms, 1872-1875). His efforts were mainly devoted to restoring
+order and confidence, though there was a new war with the Greboes to be
+waged.[2] He was succeeded by another trusted leader, James S. Payne
+(1876-1877), whose second administration was as devoid as the first of
+striking incident. In fact, the whole generation succeeding the loan
+of 1871 was a period of depression. The country not only suffered
+financially, but faith in it was shaken both at home and abroad. Coffee
+grown in Liberia fell as that produced at Brazil grew in favor, the
+farmer witnessing a drop in value from 24 to 4 cents a pound. Farms were
+abandoned, immigration from the United States ceased, and the country
+entered upon a period of stagnation from which it has not yet fully
+recovered.
+
+[Footnote 1: But not Hilary R.W. Johnson, the efficient Secretary of
+State, later President.]
+
+[Footnote 2: President Roberts died February 21, 1876, barely two months
+after giving up office. He was caught in the rain while attending a
+funeral, took a severe chill, and was not able to recover.]
+
+Within just a few years after 1871, however, conditions in the United
+States led to an interesting revival of the whole idea of colonization,
+and to noteworthy effort on the part of the Negroes themselves to better
+their condition. The withdrawal of Federal troops from the South,
+and all the evils of the aftermath of reconstruction, led to such a
+terrorizing of the Negroes and such a denial of civil rights that there
+set in the movement that culminated in the great exodus from the South
+in 1879. The movement extended all the way from North Carolina to
+Louisiana and Arkansas. Insofar as it led to migration to Kansas and
+other states in the West, it belongs to American history. However, there
+was also interest in going to Africa. Applications by the thousands
+poured in upon the American Colonization Society, and one organization
+in Arkansas sent hundreds of its members to seek the help of the New
+York State Colonization Society. In all such endeavor Negro Baptists
+and Methodists joined hands, and especially prominent was Bishop H.M.
+Turner, of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. By 1877 there was
+organized in South Carolina the Liberian Exodus and Joint Stock Company;
+in North Carolina there was the Freedmen's Emigration Aid Society; and
+there were similar organizations in other states. The South Carolina
+organization had the threefold purpose of emigration, missionary
+activity, and commercial enterprise, and to these ends it purchased a
+vessel, the _Azor_, at a cost of $7000. The white people of Charleston
+unfortunately embarrassed the enterprise in every possible way, among
+other things insisting when the _Azor_ was ready to sail that it was not
+seaworthy and needed a new copper bottom (to cost $2000). The vessel at
+length made one or two trips, however, on one voyage carrying as many as
+274 emigrants. It was then stolen and sold in Liverpool, and one gets an
+interesting sidelight on Southern conditions in the period when he knows
+that even the United States Circuit Court in South Carolina refused to
+entertain the suit brought by the Negroes.
+
+In the administration of Anthony W. Gardiner (three terms, 1878-1883)
+difficulties with England and Germany reached a crisis. Territory in
+the northwest was seized; the British made a formal show of force at
+Monrovia; and the looting of a German vessel along the Kru Coast and
+personal indignities inflicted by the natives upon the shipwrecked
+Germans, led to the bombardment of Nana Kru by a German warship and the
+presentation at Monrovia of a claim for damages, payment of which was
+forced by the threat of the bombardment of the capital. To the Liberian
+people the outlook was seldom darker than in this period of calamities.
+President Gardiner, very ill, resigned office in January of his last
+year of service, being succeeded by the vice-president, Alfred F.
+Russell. More and more was pressure brought to bear upon Liberian
+officials for the granting of monopolies and concessions, especially to
+Englishmen; and in his message of 1883 President Russell said, "Recent
+events admonish us as to the serious responsibility of claims held
+against us by foreigners, and we cannot tell what complications may
+arise." In the midst of all this, however, Russell did not forget the
+natives and the need of guarding them against liquor and exploitation.
+
+Hilary Richard Wright Johnson (four terms, 1884-1891), the next
+president, was a son of the distinguished Elijah Johnson and the first
+man born in Liberia who had risen to the highest place in the republic.
+Whigs and Republicans united in his election. Much of his time had
+necessarily to be given to complications arising from the loan of 1871;
+but the western boundary was adjusted (with great loss) with Great
+Britain at the Mano River, though new difficulties arose with the
+French, who were pressing their claim to territory as far as the Cavalla
+River. In the course of the last term of President Johnson there was an
+interesting grant (by act approved January 21, 1890) to F.F. Whittekin,
+of Pennsylvania, of the right to "construct, maintain, and operate a
+system of railroads, telegraph and telephone lines." Whittekin bought up
+in England stock to the value of half a million dollars, but died on the
+way to Liberia to fulfil his contract. His nephew, F.F. Whittekin, asked
+for an extension of time, which was granted, but after a while the whole
+project languished.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Liberia_, Bulletin No. 5, November, 1894.]
+
+Joseph James Cheeseman (1892-November 15, 1896) was a Whig. He conducted
+what was known as the third Grebo War and labored especially for a sound
+currency. He was a man of unusual ability and his devotion to his task
+undoubtedly contributed toward his death in office near the middle
+of his third term. As up to this time there had been no internal
+improvement and little agricultural or industrial development in the
+country, O.F. Cook, the agent of the New York State Colonization
+Society, in 1894 signified to the legislature a desire to establish
+a station where experiments could be made as to the best means of
+introducing, receiving, and propagating beasts of burden, commercial
+plants, etc. His request was approved and one thousand acres of land
+granted for the purpose by act of January 20, 1894. Results, however,
+were neither permanent nor far-reaching. In fact, by the close of the
+century immigration had practically ceased and the activities of the
+American Colonization Society had also ceased, many of the state
+organizations having gone out of existence. In 1893 Julius C. Stevens,
+of Goldsboro, N.C., went to Liberia and served for a nominal salary as
+agent of the American Colonization Society, becoming also a teacher in
+the Liberia College and in time Commissioner of Education, in connection
+with which post he edited his _Liberian School Reader_; but he died in
+1903.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Interest in Liberia by no means completely died.
+Contributions for education were sometimes made by the representative
+organizations, and individual students came to America from time
+to time. When, however, the important commission representing the
+Government came to America in 1908, the public was slightly startled as
+having heard from something half-forgotten.]
+
+William D. Coleman as vice-president finished the incomplete term of
+President Cheeseman (to the end of 1897) and later was elected for
+two terms in his own right. In the course of his last administration,
+however, his interior policy became very unpopular, as he was thought to
+be harsh in his dealing with the natives, and he resigned in December,
+1900. As there was at the time no vice-president, he was succeeded
+by the Secretary of State, Garretson W. Gibson, a man of scholarly
+attainments, who was afterwards elected for a whole term (1902-1903).
+The feature of this term was the discussion that arose over the proposal
+to grant a concession to an English concern known as the West African
+Gold Concessions, Ltd. This offered to the legislators a bonus of £1500,
+and for this bribe it asked for the sole right to prospect for and
+obtain gold, precious stones, and all other minerals over more than half
+of Liberia. Specifically it asked for the right to acquire freehold
+land and to take up leases for eighty years, in blocks of from ten to
+a thousand acres; to import all mining machinery and all other things
+necessary free of duty; to establish banks in connection with the mining
+enterprises, these to have the power to issue notes; to construct
+telegraphs and telephones; to organize auxiliary syndicates; and to
+establish its own police. It would seem that English impudence could
+hardly go further, though time was to prove that there were still other
+things to be borne. The proposal was indignantly rejected.
+
+Arthur Barclay (1904-1911) had already served in three cabinet positions
+before coming to the presidency; he had also been a professor in the
+Liberia College and for some years had been known as the leader of the
+bar in Monrovia. It was near the close of his second term that the
+president's term of office was lengthened from two to four years, and
+he was the first incumbent to serve for the longer period. In his first
+inaugural address President Barclay emphasized the need of developing
+the resources of the hinterland and of attaching the native tribes to
+the interests of the state. In his foreign policy he was generally
+enlightened and broad-minded, but he had to deal with the arrogance of
+England. In 1906 a new British loan was negotiated. This also was for
+£100,000, more than two-thirds of which amount was to be turned over to
+the Liberian Development Company, an English scheme for the development
+of the interior. The Company was to work in coöperation with the
+Liberian Government, and as security for the loan British officials were
+to have charge of the customs revenue, the chief inspector acting as
+financial adviser to the Republic. It afterwards developed that the
+Company never had any resources except those it had raised on the credit
+of the Republic, and the country was forced to realize that it had been
+cheated a second time. Meanwhile the English officials who, on various
+pretexts of reform, had taken charge of the barracks and the customs
+in Monrovia, were carrying things with a high hand. The Liberian force
+appeared with English insignia on the uniforms, and in various other
+ways the commander sought to overawe the populace. At the climax of the
+difficulties, on February 13, 1909, a British warship _happened_ to
+appear in the waters of Monrovia, and a calamity was averted only by the
+skillful diplomacy of the Liberians. Already, however, in 1908, Liberia
+had sent a special commission to ask the aid of the United States.
+This consisted of Garretson W. Gibson, former president; J.J. Dossen,
+vice-president at the time, and Charles B. Dunbar. The commission was
+received by President Roosevelt and by Secretary Taft just before the
+latter was nominated for the presidency. On May 8, 1909, a return
+commission consisting of Roland P. Falkner, George Sale, and Emmett J.
+Scott, arrived in Monrovia. The work of this commission must receive
+further and special attention.
+
+President Barclay was succeeded by Daniel Edward Howard (two long
+terms, 1912-1919), who at his inauguration began the policy of giving
+prominence to the native chiefs. The feature of President Howard's
+administrations was of course Liberia's connection with the Great War
+in Europe. War against Germany having been declared, on the morning
+of April 10, 1918, a submarine came to Monrovia and demanded that the
+French wireless station be torn down. The request being refused, the
+town was bombarded. The excitement of the day was such as has never been
+duplicated in the history of Liberia. In one house two young girls were
+instantly killed and an elderly woman and a little boy fatally wounded;
+but except in this one home the actual damage was comparatively slight,
+though there might have been more if a passing British steamer had not
+put the submarine to flight. Suffering of another and more far-reaching
+sort was that due to the economic situation. The comparative scarcity of
+food in the world and the profiteering of foreign merchants in Liberia
+by the summer of 1919 brought about a condition that threatened
+starvation; nor was the situation better early in 1920, when butter
+retailed at $1.25 a pound, sugar at 72 cents a pound, and oil at $1.00 a
+gallon.
+
+President Howard was succeeded by Charles Dunbar Burgess King, who as
+president-elect had visited Europe and America, and who was inaugurated
+January 5, 1920. His address on this occasion was a comprehensive
+presentation of the needs of Liberia, especially along the lines of
+agriculture and education. He made a plea also for an enlightened native
+policy. Said he: "We cannot afford to destroy the native institutions of
+the country. Our true mission lies not in the building here in Africa
+of a Negro state based solely on Western ideas, but rather a Negro
+nationality indigenous to the soil, having its foundation rooted in the
+institutions of Africa and purified by Western thought and development."
+
+
+3. _International Relations_
+
+Our study of the history of Liberia has suggested two or three matters
+that call for special attention. Of prime importance is the country's
+connection with world politics. Any consideration of Liberia's
+international relations falls into three divisions: first, that of
+titles to land; second, that of foreign loans; and third, that of
+so-called internal reform.
+
+In the very early years of the colony the raids of slave-traders gave
+some excuse for the first aggression on the part of a European power.
+"Driven from the Pongo Regions northwest of Sierra Leone, Pedro Blanco
+settled in the Gallinhas territory northwest of the Liberian frontier,
+and established elaborate headquarters for his mammoth slave-trading
+operations in West Africa, with slave-trading sub-stations at Cape
+Mount, St. Paul River, Bassa, and at other points of the Liberian coast,
+employing numerous police, watchers, spies, and servants. To obtain
+jurisdiction the colony of Liberia began to purchase from the lords of
+the soil as early as 1824 the lands of the St. Paul Basin and the Grain
+Coast from the Mafa River on the west to the Grand Sesters River on the
+east; so that by 1845, twenty-four years after the establishment of the
+colony, Liberia with the aid of Great Britain had destroyed throughout
+these regions the baneful traffic in slaves and the slave barracoons,
+and had driven the slave-trading leaders from the Liberian coast."[1]
+The trade continued to flourish, however, in the Gallinhas territory,
+and in course of time, as we have seen, the colony had also to reckon
+with British merchants in this section, the Declaration of Independence
+in 1847 being very largely a result of the defiance of Liberian
+revenue-laws by Englishmen. While President Roberts was in England
+not long after his inauguration, Lord Ashley, moved by motives of
+philanthropy, undertook to raise £2000 with which he (Roberts) might
+purchase the Gallinhas territory; and by 1856 Roberts had secured the
+title and deeds to all of this territory from the Mafa River to Sherbro
+Island. The whole transaction was thoroughly honorable, Roberts informed
+England of his acquisition, and his right to the territory was not then
+called in question. Trouble, however, developed out of the attitude of
+John M. Harris, a British merchant, and in 1862, while President Benson
+was in England, he was officially informed that the right of Liberia was
+recognized _only_ to the land "east of Turner's Peninsula to the River
+San Pedro." Harris now worked up a native war against the Vais; the
+Liberians defended themselves; and in the end the British Government
+demanded £8878.9.3 as damages for losses sustained by Harris, and
+arbitrarily extended its territory from Sherbro Island to Cape Mount. In
+the course of the discussion claims mounted up to £18,000. Great Britain
+promised to submit this boundary question to the arbitration of the
+United States, but when the time arrived at the meeting of one of the
+commissions in Sierra Leone she firmly declined to do so. After this,
+whenever she was ready to take more land she made a plausible pretext
+and was ready to back up her demands with force. On March 20, 1882, four
+British men-of-war came to Monrovia and Sir A.E. Havelock, Governor of
+Sierra Leone, came ashore; and President Gardiner was forced to submit
+to an agreement by which, in exchange for £4750 and the abandonment of
+all further claims, the Liberian Government gave up all right to
+the Gallinhas territory from Sherbro Island to the Mafa River. This
+agreement was repudiated by the Liberian Senate, but when Havelock was
+so informed he replied, "Her Majesty's Government can not in any case
+recognize any rights on the part of Liberia to any portions of the
+territories in dispute." Liberia now issued a protest to other great
+powers; but this was without avail, even the United States counseling
+acquiescence, though through the offices of America the agreement was
+slightly modified and the boundary fixed at the Mano River. Trouble next
+arose on the east. In 1846 the Maryland Colonization Society purchased
+the lands of the Ivory Coast east of Cape Palmas as far as the San Pedro
+River. These lands were formally transferred to Liberia in 1857, and
+remained in the undisputed possession of the Republic for forty years.
+France now, not to be outdone by England, on the pretext of title deeds
+obtained by French naval commanders who visited the coast in 1890, in
+1891 put forth a claim not only to the Ivory Coast, but to land as far
+away as Grand Bassa and Cape Mount. The next year, under threat of
+force, she compelled Liberia to accept a treaty which, for 25,000 francs
+and the relinquishment of all other claims, permitted her to take all
+the territory east of the Cavalla River. In 1904 Great Britain asked
+permission to advance her troops into Liberian territory to suppress a
+native war threatening her interests. She occupied at this time what
+is known as the Kaure-Lahun section, which is very fertile and of easy
+access to the Sierra Leone railway. This land she never gave up; instead
+she offered Liberia £6000 or some poorer land for it. France after 1892
+made no endeavor to delimit her boundary, and, roused by the action
+of Great Britain, she made great advances in the hinterland, claiming
+tracts of Maryland and Sino; and now France and England each threatened
+to take more land if the other was not stopped. President Barclay
+visited both countries; but by a treaty of 1907 his commission was
+forced to permit France to occupy all the territory seized by force; and
+as soon as this agreement was reached France began to move on to other
+land in the basin of the St. Paul's and St. John's rivers. This is all
+then simply one more story of the oppression of the weak by the strong.
+For eighty years England has not ceased to intermeddle in Liberian
+affairs, cajoling or browbeating as at the moment seemed advisable; and
+France has been only less bad. Certainly no country on earth now has
+better reason than Liberia to know that "they should get who have the
+power, and they should keep who can."
+
+[Footnote 1: Ellis in _Journal of Race Development_, January, 1911.]
+
+The international loans and the attempts at reform must be considered
+together. In 1871, at the rate of 7 per cent, there was authorized a
+British loan of £100,000. _For their services_ the British negotiators
+retained £30,000, and £20,000 more was deducted as the interest for
+three years. President Roye ordered Mr. Chinery, a British subject and
+the Liberian consul general in London, to supply the Liberian Secretary
+of Treasury with goods and merchandise to the value of £10,000; and
+other sums were misappropriated until the country itself actually
+received the benefit of not more than £27,000, if so much. This whole
+unfortunate matter was an embarrassment to Liberia for years; but in
+1899 the Republic assumed responsibility for £80,000, the interest being
+made a first charge on the customs revenue. In 1906, not yet having
+learned the lesson of "Cavete Graecos dona ferentes," and moved by the
+representations of Sir Harry H. Johnston, the country negotiated a
+new loan of £100,000. £30,000 of this amount was to satisfy pressing
+obligations; but the greater portion was to be turned over to the
+Liberian Development Company, a great scheme by which the Government
+and the company were to work hand in hand for the development of the
+country. As security for the loan, British officials were to have charge
+of the customs revenue, the chief inspector acting as financial adviser
+to the Republic. When the Company had made a road of fifteen miles
+in one district and made one or two other slight improvements, it
+represented to the Liberian Government that its funds were exhausted.
+When President Barclay asked for an accounting the managing director
+expressed surprise that such a demand should be made upon him. The
+Liberian people were chagrined, and at length they realized that they
+had been cheated a second time, with all the bitter experiences of the
+past to guide them. Meanwhile the English representatives in the country
+were demanding that the judiciary be reformed, that the frontier force
+be under British officers, and that Inspector Lamont as financial
+adviser have a seat in the Liberian cabinet and a veto power over all
+expenditures; and the independence of the country was threatened if
+these demands were not complied with. Meanwhile also the construction
+of barracks went forward under Major Cadell, a British officer, and the
+organization of the frontier force was begun. Not less than a third of
+this force was brought from Sierra Leone, and the whole Cadell fitted
+out with suits and caps stamped with the emblems of His Britannic
+Majesty's service. He also persuaded the Monrovia city government to let
+him act without compensation as chief of police, and he likewise became
+street commissioner, tax collector, and city treasurer. The Liberian
+people naturally objected to the usurping of all these prerogatives, but
+Cadell refused to resign and presented a large bill for his services. He
+also threatened violence to the President if his demands were not met
+within twenty-four hours. Then it was that the British warship, the
+_Mutiny_, suddenly appeared at Monrovia (February 12, 1909). Happily
+the Liberians rose to the emergency. They requested that any British
+soldiers at the barracks be withdrawn in order that they might be free
+to deal with the insurrectionary movement said to be there on the
+part of Liberian soldiers; and thus tactfully they brought about the
+withdrawal of Major Cadell.
+
+By this time, however, the Liberian commission to the United States
+had done its work, and just three months after Cadell's retirement the
+return American commission came. After studying the situation it made
+the following recommendations: That the United States extend its aid to
+Liberia in the prompt settlement of pending boundary disputes; that
+the United States enable Liberia to refund its debt by assuming as a
+guarantee for the payment of obligations under such arrangement the
+control and collection of the Liberian customs; that the United States
+lend its assistance to the Liberian Government in the reform of its
+internal finances; that the United States lend its aid to Liberia in
+organizing and drilling an adequate constabulary or frontier police
+force; that the United States establish and maintain a research
+station at Liberia; and that the United States reopen the question of
+establishing a coaling-station in Liberia. Under the fourth of these
+recommendations Major (now Colonel) Charles Young went to Liberia,
+where from time to time since he has rendered most efficient service.
+Arrangements were also made for a new loan, one of $1,700,000, which was
+to be floated by banking institutions in the United States, Germany,
+France, and England; and in 1912 an American General Receiver of Customs
+and Financial Adviser to the Republic of Liberia (with an assistant
+from each of the other three countries mentioned) opened his office
+in Monrovia. It will be observed that a complicated and expensive
+receivership was imposed on the Liberian people when an arrangement
+much more simple would have served. The loan of $1,700,000 soon proving
+inadequate for any large development of the country, negotiations were
+begun in 1918 for a new loan, one of $5,000,000. Among the things
+proposed were improvements on the harbor of Monrovia, some good roads
+through the country, a hospital, and the broadening of the work of
+education. About the loan two facts were outstanding: first, any money
+to be spent would be spent wholly under American and not under Liberian
+auspices; and, second, to the Liberians acceptance of the terms
+suggested meant practically a surrender of their sovereignty, as
+American appointees were to be in most of the important positions in the
+country, at the same time that upon themselves would fall the ultimate
+burden of the interest of the loan. By the spring of 1920 (in Liberia,
+the commencement of the rainy season) it was interesting to note that
+although the necessary measures of approval had not yet been passed by
+the Liberian Congress, perhaps as many as fifteen American officials had
+come out to the country to begin work in education, engineering, and
+sanitation. Just a little later in the year President King called an
+extra session of the legislature to consider amendments. While it was in
+session a cablegram from the United States was received saying that no
+amendments to the plan would be accepted and that it must be accepted as
+submitted, "or the friendly interest which has heretofore existed would
+become lessened." The Liberians were not frightened, however, and stood
+firm. Meanwhile a new presidential election took place in the United
+States; there was to be a radical change in the government; and the
+Liberians were disposed to try further to see if some changes could not
+be made in the proposed arrangements. Most watchfully from month to
+month, let it be remembered, England and France were waiting; and in
+any case it could easily be seen that as the Republic approached its
+centennial it was face to face with political problems of the very first
+magnitude.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Early in 1921 President King headed a new commission to the
+United States to take up the whole matter of Liberia with the incoming
+Republican administration.]
+
+
+4. _Economic and Social Conditions_
+
+From what has been said, it is evident that there is still much to be
+done in Liberia along economic lines. There has been some beginning
+in coöperative effort; thus the Bassa Trading Association is an
+organization for mutual betterment of perhaps as many as fifty
+responsible merchants and farmers. The country has as yet (1921),
+however, no railroads, no street cars, no public schools, and no genuine
+newspapers; nor are there any manufacturing or other enterprises for
+the employment of young men on a large scale. The most promising youth
+accordingly look too largely to an outlet in politics; some come to
+America to be educated and not always do they return. A few become
+clerks in the stores, and a very few assistants in the customs offices.
+There is some excellent agriculture in the interior, but as yet no means
+of getting produce to market on a large scale. In 1919 the total customs
+revenue at Monrovia, the largest port, amounted to $196,913.21. For the
+whole country the figure has recently been just about half a million
+dollars a year. Much of this amount goes to the maintenance of the
+frontier force. Within the last few years also the annual income for
+the city of Monrovia--for the payment of the mayor, the police, and all
+other city officers--has averaged $6000.
+
+In any consideration of social conditions the first question of all of
+course is that of the character of the people themselves. Unfortunately
+Liberia was begun with faulty ideals of life and work. The early
+settlers, frequently only recently out of bondage, too often felt that
+in a state of freedom they did not have to work, and accordingly they
+imitated the habits of the old master class of the South. The real
+burden of life then fell upon the native. There is still considerable
+feeling between the native and the Americo-Liberian; but more and more
+the wisest men of the country realize that the good of one is the good
+of all, and they are endeavoring to make the native chiefs work for the
+common welfare. From time to time the people of Liberia have given to
+visitors an impression of arrogance, and perhaps no one thing had led to
+more unfriendly criticism of this country than this. The fact is that
+the Liberians, knowing that their country has various shortcomings
+according to Western standards, are quick to assume the defensive, and
+one method of protecting themselves is by erecting a barrier of dignity
+and reserve. One has only to go beyond this, however, to find the real
+heartbeat of the people. The comparative isolation of the Republic
+moreover, and the general stress of living conditions have together
+given to the everyday life an undue seriousness of tone, with a rather
+excessive emphasis on the church, on politics, and on secret societies.
+In such an atmosphere boys and girls too soon became mature, and for
+them especially one might wish to see a little more wholesome outdoor
+amusement. In school or college catalogues one still sees much of
+jurisprudence and moral philosophy, but little of physics or biology.
+Interestingly enough, this whole system of education and life has not
+been without some elements of very genuine culture. Literature has been
+mainly in the diction of Shakespeare and Milton; but Shakespeare and
+Milton, though not of the twentieth century, are still good models,
+and because the officials have had to compose many state documents and
+deliver many formal addresses, there has been developed in the country
+a tradition of good English speech. A service in any one of the
+representative churches is dignified and impressive.
+
+The churches and schools of Liberia have been most largely in the hands
+of the Methodists and the Episcopalians, though the Baptists, the
+Presbyterians, and the Lutherans are well represented. The Lutherans
+have penetrated to a point in the interior beyond that attained by any
+other denomination. The Episcopalians have excelled others, even the
+Methodists, by having more constant and efficient oversight of their
+work. The Episcopalians have in Liberia a little more than 40 schools,
+nearly half of these being boarding-schools, with a total attendance
+of 2000. The Methodists have slightly more than 30 schools, with 2500
+pupils. The Lutherans in their five mission stations have 20 American
+workers and 300 pupils. While it seems from these figures that the
+number of those reached is small in proportion to the outlay, it must be
+remembered that a mission school becomes a center from which influence
+radiates in all directions.
+
+While the enterprise of the denominational institutions can not be
+doubted, it may well be asked if, in so largely relieving the people
+of the burden of the education of their children, they are not unduly
+cultivating a spirit of dependence rather than of self-help. Something
+of this point of view was emphasized by the Secretary of Public
+Instruction, Mr. Walter F. Walker, in an address, "Liberia and Her
+Educational Problems," delivered in Chicago in 1916. Said he of the day
+schools maintained by the churches: "These day schools did invaluable
+service in the days of the Colony and Commonwealth, and, indeed, in the
+early days of the Republic; but to their continuation must undoubtedly
+be ascribed the tardy recognition of the government and people of the
+fact that no agency for the education of the masses is as effective as
+the public school.... There is not one public school building owned by
+the government or by any city or township."
+
+It might further be said that just now in Liberia there is no
+institution that is primarily doing college work. Two schools in
+Monrovia, however, call for special remark. The College of West Africa,
+formerly Monrovia Seminary, was founded by the Methodist Church in 1839.
+The institution does elementary and lower high school work, though some
+years ago it placed a little more emphasis on college work than it has
+been able to do within recent years. It was of this college that the
+late Bishop A.P. Camphor served so ably as president for twelve years.
+Within recent years it has recognized the importance of industrial work
+and has had in all departments an average annual enrollment of 300. Not
+quite so prominent within the last few years, but with more tradition
+and theoretically at the head of the educational system of the Republic
+is the Liberia College. In 1848 Simon Greenleaf of Boston, received from
+John Payne, a missionary at Cape Palmas, a request for his assistance in
+building a theological school. Out of this suggestion grew the Board
+of Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia incorporated in
+Massachusetts in March, 1850. The next year the Liberia legislature
+incorporated the Liberia College, it being understood that the
+institution would emphasize academic as well as theological subjects. In
+1857 Ex-President J.J. Roberts was elected president; he superintended
+the erection of a large building; and in 1862 the college was opened
+for work. Since then it has had a very uneven existence, sometimes
+enrolling, aside from its preparatory department, twenty or thirty
+college students, then again having no college students at all. Within
+the last few years, as the old building was completely out of repair,
+the school has had to seek temporary quarters. It is too vital to the
+country to be allowed to languish, however, and it is to be hoped that
+it may soon be well started upon a new career of usefulness. In the
+course of its history the Liberia College has had connected with it some
+very distinguished men. Famous as teacher and lecturer, and president
+from 1881 to 1885, was Edward Wilmot Blyden, generally regarded as the
+foremost scholar that Western Africa has given to the world. Closely
+associated with him in the early years, and well known in America as in
+Africa, was Alexander Crummell, who brought to his teaching the richness
+of English university training. A trustee for a number of years was
+Samuel David Ferguson, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, who served
+with great dignity and resource as missionary bishop of the country
+from 1884 until his death in 1916. A new president of the college, Rev.
+Nathaniel H.B. Cassell, was elected in 1918, and it is expected that
+under his efficient direction the school will go forward to still
+greater years of service.
+
+Important in connection with the study of the social conditions in
+Liberia is that of health and living conditions. One who lives in
+America and knows that Africa is a land of unbounded riches can hardly
+understand the extent to which the West Coast has been exploited, or
+the suffering that is there just now. The distress is most acute in the
+English colonies, and as Liberia is so close to Sierra Leone and the
+Gold Coast, much of the same situation prevails there. In Monrovia the
+only bank is the branch of the Bank of British West Africa. In the
+branches of this great institution all along the coast, as a result of
+the war, gold disappeared, silver became very scarce, and the common
+form of currency became paper notes, issued in denominations as low as
+one and two shillings. These the natives have refused to accept. They go
+even further: rather than bring their produce to the towns and receive
+paper for it they will not come at all. In Monrovia an effort was made
+to introduce the British West African paper currency, and while this
+failed, more and more the merchants insisted on being paid in silver,
+nor in an ordinary purchase would silver be given in change on an
+English ten-shilling note. Prices accordingly became exorbitant;
+children were not properly nourished and the infant mortality grew to
+astonishing proportions. Nor were conditions made better by the lack of
+sanitation and by the prevalence of disease. Happily relief for these
+conditions--for some of them at least--seems to be in sight, and it is
+expected that before very long a hospital will be erected in Monrovia.
+
+One or two reflections suggest themselves. It has been said that the
+circumstances under which Liberia was founded led to a despising of
+industrial effort. The country is now quite awake, however, to the
+advantages of industrial and agricultural enterprise. A matter of
+supreme importance is that of the relation of the Americo-Liberian to
+the native; this will work itself out, for the native is the country's
+chief asset for the future. In general the Republic needs a few visible
+evidences of twentieth century standards of progress; two or three high
+schools and hospitals built on the American plan would work wonders.
+Finally let it not be forgotten that upon the American Negro rests the
+obligation to do whatever he can to help to develop the country. If he
+will but firmly clasp hands with his brother across the sea, a new day
+will dawn for American Negro and Liberian alike.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE NEGRO A NATIONAL ISSUE
+
+
+1. _Current Tendencies_
+
+It is evident from what has been said already that the idea of the Negro
+current about 1830 in the United States was not very exalted. It was
+seriously questioned if he was really a human being, and doctors of
+divinity learnedly expounded the "Cursed be Canaan" passage as applying
+to him. A prominent physician of Mobile[1] gave it as his opinion that
+"the brain of the Negro, when compared with the Caucasian, is smaller by
+a tenth ... and the intellect is wanting in the same proportion," and
+finally asserted that Negroes could not live in the North because "a
+cold climate so freezes their brains as to make them insane." About
+mulattoes, like many others, he stretched his imagination marvelously.
+They were incapable of undergoing fatigue; the women were very delicate
+and subject to all sorts of diseases, and they did not beget children
+as readily as either black women or white women. In fact, said Nott,
+between the ages of twenty-five and forty mulattoes died ten times as
+fast as either white or black people; between forty and fifty-five fifty
+times as fast, and between fifty-five and seventy one hundred times as
+fast.
+
+[Footnote 1: See "Two Lectures on the Natural History of the Caucasian
+and Negro Races. By Josiah C. Nott, M.D., Mobile, 1844."]
+
+To such opinions was now added one of the greatest misfortunes that have
+befallen the Negro race in its entire history in America--burlesque on
+the stage. When in 1696 Thomas Southerne adapted _Oroonoko_ from the
+novel of Mrs. Aphra Behn and presented in London the story of the
+African prince who was stolen from his native Angola, no one saw any
+reason why the Negro should not be a subject for serious treatment on
+the stage, and the play was a great success, lasting for decades. In
+1768, however, was presented at Drury Lane a comic opera, _The Padlock_,
+and a very prominent character was Mungo, the slave of a West Indian
+planter, who got drunk in the second act and was profane throughout the
+performance. In the course of the evening Mungo entertained the audience
+with such lines as the following:
+
+  Dear heart, what a terrible life I am led!
+  A dog has a better, that's sheltered and fed.
+       Night and day 'tis the same;
+       My pain is deir game:
+  Me wish to de Lord me was dead!
+       Whate'er's to be done,
+       Poor black must run.
+       Mungo here, Mungo dere,
+       Mungo everywhere:
+       Above and below,
+       Sirrah, come; sirrah, go;
+       Do so, and do so,
+            Oh! oh!
+  Me wish to de Lord me was dead!
+
+The depreciation of the race that Mungo started continued, and when in
+1781 _Robinson Crusoe_ was given as a pantomime at Drury Lane, Friday
+was represented as a Negro. The exact origins of Negro minstrelsy
+are not altogether clear; there have been many claimants, and it is
+interesting to note in passing that there was an "African Company"
+playing in New York in the early twenties, though this was probably
+nothing more than a small group of amateurs. Whatever may have been
+the beginning, it was Thomas D. Rice who brought the form to genuine
+popularity. In Louisville in the summer of 1828, looking from one of the
+back windows of a theater, he was attracted by an old and decrepit slave
+who did odd jobs about a livery stable. The slave's master was named
+Crow and he called himself Jim Crow. His right shoulder was drawn up
+high and his left leg was stiff at the knee, but he took his deformity
+lightly, singing as he worked. He had one favorite tune to which he
+had fitted words of his own, and at the end of each verse he made a
+ludicrous step which in time came to be known as "rocking the heel." His
+refrain consisted of the words:
+
+  Wheel about, turn about,
+  Do jis so,
+  An' ebery time I wheel about
+  I jump Jim Crow.
+
+Rice, who was a clever and versatile performer, caught the air, made up
+like the Negro, and in the course of the next season introduced Jim Crow
+and his step to the stage, and so successful was he in his performance
+that on his first night in the part he was encored twenty times.[1] Rice
+had many imitators among the white comedians of the country, some of
+whom indeed claimed priority in opening up the new field, and along with
+their burlesque these men actually touched upon the possibilities of
+plaintive Negro melodies, which they of course capitalized. In New York
+late in 1842 four men--"Dan" Emmett, Frank Brower, "Billy" Whitlock, and
+"Dick" Pelham--practiced together with fiddle and banjo, "bones"
+and tambourine, and thus was born the first company, the "Virginia
+Minstrels," which made its formal debut in New York February 17, 1843.
+Its members produced in connection with their work all sorts of popular
+songs, one of Emmett's being "Dixie," which, introduced by Mrs. John
+Wood in a burlesque in New Orleans at the outbreak of the Civil War,
+leaped into popularity and became the war-song of the Confederacy.
+Companies multipled apace. "Christy's Minstrels" claimed priority to the
+company already mentioned, but did not actually enter upon its New York
+career until 1846. "Bryant's Minstrels" and Buckley's "New Orleans
+Serenaders" were only two others of the most popular aggregations
+featuring and burlesquing the Negro. In a social history of the Negro in
+America, however, it is important to observe in passing that already,
+even in burlesque, the Negro element was beginning to enthrall the
+popular mind. About the same time as minstrelsy also developed the habit
+of belittling the race by making the name of some prominent and worthy
+Negro a term of contempt; thus "cuffy" (corrupted from Paul Cuffe) now
+came into widespread use.
+
+[Footnote 1: See Laurence Hutton: "The Negro on the Stage," in _Harper's
+Magazine_, 79:137 (June, 1889), referring to article by Edmon S. Conner
+in _New York Times_, June 5, 1881.]
+
+This was not all. It was now that the sinister crime of lynching raised
+its head in defiance of all law. At first used as a form of punishment
+for outlaws and gamblers, it soon came to be applied especially to
+Negroes. One was burned alive near Greenville, S.C., in 1825; in May,
+1835, two were burned near Mobile for the murder of two children; and
+for the years between 1823 and 1860 not less than fifty-six cases of the
+lynching of Negroes have been ascertained, though no one will ever know
+how many lost their lives without leaving any record. Certainly more men
+were executed illegally than legally; thus of forty-six recorded murders
+by Negroes of owners or overseers between 1850 and 1860 twenty resulted
+in legal execution and twenty-six in lynching. Violent crimes against
+white women were not relatively any more numerous than now; but those
+that occurred or were attempted received swift punishment; thus of
+seventeen cases of rape in the ten years last mentioned Negroes were
+legally executed in five and lynched in twelve.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: See Hart: _Slavery and Abolition_, 11 and 117, citing
+Cutler: _Lynch Law_, 98-100 and 126-128.]
+
+Extraordinary attention was attracted by the burning in St. Louis in
+1835 of a man named McIntosh, who had killed an officer who was trying
+to arrest him.[1] This event came in the midst of a period of great
+agitation, and it was for denouncing this lynching that Elijah P.
+Lovejoy had his printing-office destroyed in St. Louis and was forced
+to remove to Alton, Ill., where his press was three times destroyed and
+where he finally met death at the hands of a mob while trying to protect
+his property November 7, 1837. Judge Lawless defended the lynching and
+even William Ellery Channing took a compromising view. Abraham Lincoln,
+however, then a very young man, in an address on "The Perpetuation of
+Our Political Institutions" at Springfield, January 27, 1837, said:
+"Accounts of outrages committed by mobs form the everyday news of the
+times. They have pervaded the country from New England to Louisiana;
+they are neither peculiar to the eternal snows of the former nor the
+burning suns of the latter; they are not the creatures of climate,
+neither are they confined to the slaveholding or the nonslaveholding
+states.... Turn to that horror-striking scene at St. Louis. A single
+victim only was sacrificed there. This story is very short, and is
+perhaps the most highly tragic of anything that has ever been witnessed
+in real life. A mulatto man by the name of McIntosh was seized in the
+street, dragged to the suburbs of the city, chained to a tree, and
+actually burned to death; and all within a single hour from the time he
+had been a free man attending to his own business and at peace with
+the world.... Such are the effects of mob law, and such are the scenes
+becoming more and more frequent in this land so lately famed for love of
+law and order, and the stories of which have even now grown too familiar
+to attract anything more than an idle remark."
+
+[Footnote 1: Cutler: _Lynch Law_, 109, citing Niles's _Register_, June
+4, 1836.]
+
+All the while flagrant crimes were committed against Negro women and
+girls, and free men in the border states were constantly being
+dragged into slavery by kidnapers. Two typical cases will serve for
+illustration. George Jones, a respectable man of New York, was in 1836
+arrested on Broadway on the pretext that he had committed assault and
+battery. He refused to go with his captors, for he knew that he had
+done nothing to warrant such a charge; but he finally yielded on the
+assurance of his employer that everything possible would be done for
+him. He was placed in the Bridewell and a few minutes afterwards taken
+before a magistrate, to whose satisfaction he was proved to be a slave.
+Thus, in less than two hours after his arrest he was hurried away by the
+kidnapers, whose word had been accepted as sufficient evidence, and he
+had not been permitted to secure a single friendly witness. Solomon
+Northrup, who afterwards wrote an account of his experiences, was a
+free man who lived in Saratoga and made his living by working about the
+hotels, where in the evenings he often played the violin at parties. One
+day two men, supposedly managers of a traveling circus company, met him
+and offered him good pay if he would go with them as a violinist to
+Washington. He consented, and some mornings afterwards awoke to find
+himself in a slave pen in the capital. How he got there was ever a
+mystery to him, but evidently he had been drugged. He was taken South
+and sold to a hard master, with whom he remained twelve years before
+he was able to effect his release.[1] In the South any free Negro who
+entertained a runaway might himself become a slave; thus in South
+Carolina in 1827 a free woman with her three children suffered this
+penalty because she gave succor to two homeless and fugitive children
+six and nine years old.
+
+[Footnote 1: McDougall: Fugitive Slaves, 36-37.]
+
+Day by day, moreover, from the capital of the nation went on the
+internal slave-trade. "When by one means and another a dealer had
+gathered twenty or more likely young Negro men and girls, he would bring
+them forth from their cells; would huddle the women and young children
+into a cart or wagon; would handcuff the men in pairs, the right hand of
+one to the left hand of another; make the handcuffs fast to a long chain
+which passed between each pair of slaves, and would start his procession
+southward."[1] It is not strange that several of the unfortunate people
+committed suicide. One distracted mother, about to be separated from her
+loved ones, dumbfounded the nation by hurling herself from the window
+of a prison in the capital on the Sabbath day and dying in the street
+below.
+
+[Footnote 1: McMaster, V, 219-220.]
+
+Meanwhile even in the free states the disabilities of the Negro
+continued. In general he was denied the elective franchise, the right of
+petition, the right to enter public conveyances or places of amusement,
+and he was driven into a status of contempt by being shut out from the
+army and the militia. He had to face all sorts of impediments in getting
+education or in pursuing honest industry; he had nothing whatever to
+do with the administration of justice; and generally he was subject to
+insult and outrage.
+
+One might have supposed that on all this proscription and denial of the
+ordinary rights of human beings the Christian Church would have taken a
+positive stand. Unfortunately, as so often happens, it was on the side
+of property and vested interest rather than on that of the oppressed. We
+have already seen that Southern divines held slaves and countenanced
+the system; and by 1840 James G. Birney had abundant material for his
+indictment, "The American Churches the Bulwarks of American Slavery."
+He showed among other things that while in 1780 the Methodist Episcopal
+Church had opposed slavery and in 1784 had given a slaveholder one month
+to repent or withdraw from its conferences, by 1836 it had so drifted
+away from its original position as to disclaim "any right, wish, or
+intention to interfere in the civil and political relation between
+master and slave, as it existed in the slaveholding states of the
+union." Meanwhile in the churches of the North there was the most
+insulting discrimination; in the Baptist Church in Hartford the pews for
+Negroes were boarded up in front, and in Stonington, Conn., the floor
+was cut out of a Negro's pew by order of the church authorities. In
+Boston, in a church that did not welcome and that made little provision
+for Negroes, a consecrated deacon invited into his own pew some Negro
+people, whereupon he lost the right to hold a pew in his church. He
+decided that there should be some place where there might be more
+freedom of thought and genuine Christianity, he brought others into the
+plan, and the effort that he put forth resulted in what has since become
+the Tremont Temple Baptist Church.
+
+Into all this proscription, burlesque, and crime, and denial of the
+fundamental principles of Christianity, suddenly came the program of the
+Abolitionists; and it spoke with tongues of fire, and had all the vigor
+and force of a crusade.
+
+
+2. _The Challenge of the Abolitionists_
+
+The great difference between the early abolition societies which
+resulted in the American Convention and the later anti-slavery movement
+of which Garrison was the representative figure was the difference
+between a humanitarian impulse tempered by expediency and one that had
+all the power of a direct challenge. Before 1831 "in the South the
+societies were more numerous, the members no less earnest, and the
+hatred of slavery no less bitter,... yet the conciliation and persuasion
+so noticeable in the earlier period in twenty years accomplished
+practically nothing either in legislation or in the education of public
+sentiment; while gradual changes in economic conditions at the South
+caused the question to grow more difficult."[1] Moreover, "the evidence
+of open-mindedness can not stand against the many instances of absolute
+refusal to permit argument against slavery. In the Colonial Congress,
+in the Confederation, in the Constitutional Convention, in the state
+ratifying conventions, in the early Congresses, there were many vehement
+denunciations of anything which seemed to have an anti-slavery tendency,
+and wholesale suspicion of the North at all times when the subject was
+opened."[2] One can not forget the effort of James G. Birney, or that
+Benjamin Lundy's work was most largely done in what we should now call
+the South, or that between 1815 and 1828 at least four journals which
+avowed the extinction of slavery as one, if not the chief one, of
+their objects were published in the Southern states.[3] Only gradual
+emancipation, however, found any real support in the South; and, as
+compared with the work of Garrison, even that of Lundy appears in the
+distance with something of the mildness of "sweetness and light." Even
+before the rise of Garrison, Robert James Turnbull of South Carolina,
+under the name of "Brutus," wrote a virulent attack on anti-slavery; and
+Representative Drayton of the same state, speaking in Congress in 1828,
+said, "Much as we love our country, we would rather see our cities in
+flames, our plains drenched in blood--rather endure all the calamities
+of civil war, than parley for an instant upon the right of any power,
+than our own to interfere with the regulation of our slaves."[4] More
+and more this was to be the real sentiment of the South, and in the
+face of this kind of eloquence and passion mere academic discussion was
+powerless.
+
+[Footnote 1: Adams: _The Neglected Period of Anti-Slavery, 1808-1831_,
+250-251.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., 110.]
+
+[Footnote 3: William Birney: _James G. Birney and His Times_, 85-86.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Register of Debates, _4,975_, cited by Adams, 112-3.]
+
+The _Liberator_ was begun January 1, 1831. The next year Garrison was
+the leading spirit in the formation of the New England Anti-Slavery
+Society; and in December, 1833, in Philadelphia, the American
+Anti-Slavery Society was organized. In large measure these organizations
+were an outgrowth of the great liberal and humanitarian spirit that by
+1830 had become manifest in both Europe and America. Hugo and Mazzini,
+Byron and Macaulay had all now appeared upon the scene, and romanticism
+was regnant. James Montgomery and William Faber wrote their hymns,
+and Reginald Heber went as a missionary bishop to India. Forty years
+afterwards the French Revolution was bearing fruit. France herself had a
+new revolution in 1830, and in this same year the kingdom of Belgium was
+born. In England there was the remarkable reign of William IV, which
+within the short space of seven years summed up in legislation reforms
+that had been agitated for decades. In 1832 came the great Reform Bill,
+in 1833 the abolition of slavery in English dominions, and in 1834 a
+revision of factory legislation and the poor law. Charles Dickens and
+Elizabeth Barrett Browning began to be heard, and in 1834 came to
+America George Thompson, a powerful and refined speaker who had had much
+to do with the English agitation against slavery. The young republic
+of the United States, lusty and self-confident, was seething with new
+thought. In New England the humanitarian movement that so largely began
+with the Unitarianism of Channing "ran through its later phase in
+transcendentalism, and spent its last strength in the anti-slavery
+agitation and the enthusiasms of the Civil War."[1] The movement was
+contemporary with the preaching of many novel gospels in religion, in
+sociology, in science, education, and medicine. New sects were formed,
+like the Universalists, the Spiritualists, the Second Adventists,
+the Mormons, and the Shakers, some of which believed in trances and
+miracles, others in the quick coming of Christ, and still others in the
+reorganization of society; and the pseudo-sciences, like mesmerism and
+phrenology, had numerous followers. The ferment has long since subsided,
+and much that was then seething has since gone off in vapor; but when
+all that was spurious has been rejected, we find that the
+general impulse was but a new baptism of the old Puritan spirit.
+Transcendentalism appealed to the private consciousness as the sole
+standard of truth and right. With kindred movements it served to quicken
+the ethical sense of a nation that was fast becoming materialistic and
+to nerve it for the conflict that sooner or later had to come.
+
+[Footnote 1: Henry A. Beers: _Initial Studies in American Letters_,
+95-98 passim.]
+
+In his salutatory editorial Garrison said with reference to his
+position: "In Park Street Church, on the Fourth of July, 1829, in
+an address on slavery, I unreflectingly assented to the popular but
+pernicious doctrine of gradual abolition. I seize this opportunity to
+make a full and unequivocal recantation, and thus publicly to ask pardon
+of my God, of my country, and of my brethren, the poor slaves, for
+having uttered a sentiment so full of timidity, injustice, and
+absurdity.... I am aware that many object to the severity of my
+language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as
+truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish
+to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. No! no! Tell a man whose
+house is on fire, to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately
+rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to
+gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen;
+but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present! I am in
+earnest. I will not equivocate--I will not excuse--I will not retreat a
+single inch--AND I WILL BE HEARD." With something of the egotism
+that comes of courage in a holy cause, he said: "On this question my
+influence, humble as it is, is felt at this moment to a considerable
+extent, and shall be felt in coming years--not perniciously, but
+beneficially--not as a curse, but as a blessing; and POSTERITY WILL BEAR
+TESTIMONY THAT I WAS RIGHT."
+
+All the while, in speaking to the Negro people themselves, Garrison
+endeavored to beckon them to the highest possible ground of personal and
+racial self-respect. Especially did he advise them to seek the virtues
+of education and coöperation. Said he to them:[1] "Support each
+other.... When I say 'support each other,' I mean, sell to each other,
+and buy of each other, in preference to the whites. This is a duty: the
+whites do not trade with you; why should you give them your patronage?
+If one of your number opens a little shop, do not pass it by to give
+your money to a white shopkeeper. If any has a trade, employ him as
+often as possible. If any is a good teacher, send your children to him,
+and be proud that he is one of your color.... Maintain your rights, in
+all cases, and at whatever expense.... Wherever you are allowed to vote,
+see that your names are put on the lists of voters, and go to the polls.
+If you are not strong enough to choose a man of your own color, give
+your votes to those who are friendly to your cause; but, if possible,
+elect intelligent and respectable colored men. I do not despair of
+seeing the time when our State and National Assemblies will contain a
+fair proportion of colored representatives--especially if the proposed
+college at New Haven goes into successful operation. Will you despair
+now so many champions are coming to your help, and the trump of jubilee
+is sounding long and loud; when is heard a voice from the East, a voice
+from the West, a voice from the North, a voice from the South, crying,
+_Liberty and Equality now, Liberty and Equality forever_! Will you
+despair, seeing Truth, and Justice, and Mercy, and God, and Christ, and
+the Holy Ghost, are on your side? Oh, no--never, never despair of the
+complete attainment of your rights!"
+
+[Footnote 1: "An Address delivered before the Free People of Color in
+Philadelphia, New York, and other cities, during the month of June,
+1831, by Wm. Lloyd Garrison. Boston, 1831," pp. 14-18.]
+
+To second such sentiments rose a remarkable group of men and women,
+among them Elijah P. Lovejoy, Wendell Phillips, Theodore Parker, John
+Greenleaf Whittier, Lydia Maria Child, Samuel J. May, William Jay,
+Charles Sumner, Henry Ward Beecher, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and John
+Brown. Phillips, the "Plumed Knight" of the cause, closed his law
+office because he was not willing to swear that he would support the
+Constitution; he relinquished the franchise because he did not wish to
+have any responsibility for a government that countenanced slavery; and
+he lost sympathy with the Christian Church because of its compromising
+attitude. Garrison himself termed the Constitution "a covenant with
+death and an agreement with hell." Lydia Maria Child in 1833 published
+an _Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans_,
+and wrote or edited numerous other books for the cause, while the
+anti-slavery poems of Whittier are now a part of the main stream of
+American literature. The Abolitionists repelled many conservative men by
+their refusal to countenance any laws that recognized slavery; but they
+gained force when Congress denied them the right of petition and when
+President Jackson refused them the use of the mails.
+
+There could be no question as to the directness of their attack. They
+held up the slaveholder to scorn. They gave thousands of examples of the
+inhumanity of the system of slavery, publishing scores and even hundreds
+of tracts and pamphlets. They called the attention of America to the
+slave who for running away was for five days buried in the ground up
+to his chin with his arms tied behind him; to women who were whipped
+because they did not breed fast enough or would not yield to the lust of
+planters or overseers; to men who were tied to be whipped and then left
+bleeding, or who were branded with hot irons, or forced to wear iron
+yokes and clogs and bells; to the Presbyterian preacher in Georgia who
+tortured a slave until he died; to a woman in New Jersey who was "bound
+to a log, and scored with a knife, in a shocking manner, across her
+back, and the gashes stuffed with salt, after which she was tied to
+a post in a cellar, where, after suffering three days, death kindly
+terminated her misery"; and finally to the fact that even when slaves
+were dead they were not left in peace, as the South Carolina Medical
+College in Charleston advertised that the bodies were used for
+dissection.[1] In the face of such an indictment the South appeared more
+injured and innocent than ever, and said that evils had been greatly
+exaggerated. Perhaps in some instances they were; but the South and
+everybody also knew that no pen could nearly do justice to some of the
+things that were possible under the iniquitous and abominable system of
+American slavery.
+
+[Footnote 1: See "American Slavery as it is: Testimony of a Thousand
+Witnesses. By Theodore Dwight Weld. Published by the American
+Anti-Slavery Society, New York, 1839"; but the account of the New Jersey
+woman is from "A Portraiture of Domestic Slavery in the United States,
+by Jesse Torrey, Ballston Spa, Penn., 1917," p. 67.]
+
+The Abolitionists, however, did not stop with a mere attack on
+slavery. Not satisfied with the mere enumeration of examples of Negro
+achievement, they made even higher claims in behalf of the people now
+oppressed. Said Alexander H. Everett:[1] "We are sometimes told that all
+these efforts will be unavailing--that the African is a degraded member
+of the human family--that a man with a dark skin and curled hair is
+necessarily, as such, incapable of improvement and civilization, and
+condemned by the vice of his physical conformation to vegetate forever
+in a state of hopeless barbarism. I reject with contempt and indignation
+this miserable heresy. In replying to it the friends of truth and
+humanity have not hitherto done justice to the argument. In order to
+prove that the blacks were capable of intellectual efforts, they have
+painfully collected a few specimens of what some of them have done in
+this way, even in the degraded condition which they occupy at present
+in Christendom. This is not the way to treat the subject. Go back to an
+earlier period in the history of our race. See what the blacks were and
+what they did three thousand years ago, in the period of their
+greatness and glory, when they occupied the forefront in the march of
+civilization--when they constituted in fact the whole civilized world of
+their time. Trace this very civilization, of which we are so proud, to
+its origin, and see where you will find it. We received it from our
+European ancestors: they had it from the Greeks and Romans, and the
+Jews. But, sir, where did the Greeks and the Romans and the Jews get it?
+They derived it from Ethiopia and Egypt--in one word, from Africa.[2]
+... The ruins of the Egyptian temples laugh to scorn the architectural
+monuments of any other part of the world. They will be what they are
+now, the delight and admiration of travelers from all quarters, when the
+grass is growing on the sites of St. Peter's and St. Paul's, the present
+pride of Rome and London.... It seems, therefore, that for this very
+civilization of which we are so proud, and which is the only ground of
+our present claim of superiority, we are indebted to the ancestors
+of these very blacks, whom we are pleased to consider as naturally
+incapable of civilization."
+
+[Footnote 1: See "The Anti-Slavery Picknick: a collection of Speeches,
+Poems, Dialogues, and Songs, intended for use in schools and
+anti-slavery meetings. By John A. Collins, Boston, 1842," 10-12.]
+
+[Footnote 2: It is worthy of note that this argument, which was long
+thought to be fallacious, is more and more coming to be substantiated by
+the researches of scholars, and that not only as affecting Northern
+but also Negro Africa. Note Lady Lugard (Flora L. Shaw): _A Tropical
+Dependency_, London, 1906, pp. 16-18.]
+
+In adherence to their convictions the Abolitionists were now to give
+a demonstration of faith in humanity such as has never been surpassed
+except by Jesus Christ himself. They believed in the Negro even before
+the Negro had learned to believe in himself. Acting on their doctrine of
+equal rights, they traveled with their Negro friends, "sat upon the same
+platforms with them, ate with them, and one enthusiastic abolitionist
+white couple adopted a Negro child."[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Hart: _Slavery and Abolition_, 245-6.]
+
+Garrison appealed to posterity. He has most certainly been justified by
+time. Compared with his high stand for the right, the opportunism of
+such a man as Clay shrivels into nothingness. Within recent years a
+distinguished American scholar,[1] writing of the principles for which
+he and his co-workers stood, has said: "The race question transcends any
+academic inquiry as to what ought to have been done in 1866. It affects
+the North as well as the South; it touches the daily life of all of
+our citizens, individually, politically, humanly. It molds the child's
+conception of democracy. It tests the faith of the adult. It is by no
+means an American problem only. What is going on in our states, North
+and South, is only a local phase of a world-problem.... Now, Whittier's
+opinions upon that world-problem are unmistakable. He believed, quite
+literally, that all men are brothers; that oppression of one man or
+one race degrades the whole human family; and that there should be the
+fullest equality of opportunity. That a mere difference in color should
+close the door of civil, industrial, and political hope upon any
+individual was a hateful thing to the Quaker poet. The whole body of
+his verse is a protest against the assertion of race pride, against the
+emphasis upon racial differences. To Whittier there was no such thing
+as a 'white man's civilization.' The only distinction was between
+civilization and barbarism. He had faith in education, in equality
+before the law, in freedom of opportunity, and in the ultimate triumph
+of brotherhood.
+
+      'They are rising,--
+       All are rising,
+    The black and white together.'
+
+This faith is at once too sentimental and too dogmatic to suit those
+persons who have exalted economic efficiency into a fetish and who
+have talked loudly at times--though rather less loudly since the
+Russo-Japanese War--about the white man's task of governing the backward
+races. _But whatever progress has been made by the American Negro since
+the Civil War, in self-respect, in moral and intellectual development,
+and--for that matter--in economic efficiency, has been due to fidelity
+to those principles which Whittier and other like-minded men and women
+long ago enunciated_.[2] The immense tasks which still remain, alike for
+'higher' as for 'lower' races, can be worked out by following Whittier's
+program, if they can be worked out at all."
+
+[Footnote 1: Bliss Perry: "Whittier for To-Day," _Atlantic Monthly_,
+Vol. 100, 851-859 (December, 1907).]
+
+[Footnote 2: The italics are our own.]
+
+
+3. The Contest
+
+Even before the Abolitionists became aggressive a test law had been
+passed, the discussion of which did much to prepare for their coming.
+Immediately after the Denmark Vesey insurrection the South Carolina
+legislature voted that the moment that a vessel entered a port in the
+state with a free Negro or person of color on board he should be seized,
+even if he was the cook, the steward, or a mariner, or if he was a
+citizen of another state or country.[1] The sheriff was to board the
+vessel, take the Negro to jail and detain him there until the vessel was
+actually ready to leave. The master of the ship was then to pay for the
+detention of the Negro and take him away, or pay a fine of $1,000 and
+see the Negro sold as a slave. Within a short time after this enactment
+was passed, as many as forty-one vessels were deprived of one or more
+hands, from one British trading vessel almost the entire crew being
+taken. The captains appealed to the judge of the United States District
+Court, who with alacrity turned the matter over to the state courts. Now
+followed much legal proceeding, with an appeal to higher authorities, in
+the course of which both Canning and Adams were forced to consider the
+question, and it was generally recognized that the act violated both the
+treaty with Great Britain and the power of Congress to regulate trade.
+To all of this South Carolina replied that as a sovereign state she had
+the right to interdict the entry of foreigners, that in fact she had
+been a sovereign state at the time of her entrance into the Union and
+that she never had surrendered the right to exclude free Negroes.
+Finally she asserted that if a dissolution of the Union must be the
+alternative she was quite prepared to abide by the result. Unusual
+excitement arose soon afterwards when four free Negroes on a British
+ship were seized by the sheriff and dragged from the deck. The captain
+had to go to heavy expense to have these men released, and on reaching
+Liverpool he appealed to the Board of Trade. The British minister now
+sent a more vigorous protest, Adams referred the same to Wirt, the
+Attorney General, and Wirt was forced to declare South Carolina's act
+unconstitutional and void. His opinion with a copy of the British
+protest Adams sent to the Governor of the state, who immediately
+transmitted the same to the legislature. Each branch of the legislature
+passed resolutions which the other would not accept, but neither voted
+to repeal the law. In fact, it remained technically in force until the
+Civil War. In 1844 Massachusetts sent Samuel Hoar as a commissioner to
+Charleston to make a test case of a Negro who had been deprived of his
+rights. Hoar cited Article II, Section 2, of the National Constitution
+("The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the privileges and
+immunities of citizens in the several states"), intending ultimately to
+bring a case before the United States Supreme Court. When he appeared,
+however, the South Carolina legislature voted that "this agent comes
+here not as a citizen of the United States, but as an emissary of a
+foreign Government hostile to our domestic institutions and with the
+sole purpose of subverting our internal police." Hoar was at length
+notified that his life was in danger and he was forced to leave the
+state. Meanwhile Southern sentiment against the American Colonization
+Society had crystallized, and the excitement raised by David Walker's
+_Appeal_ was exceeded only by that occasioned by Nat Turner's
+insurrection.
+
+[Footnote 1: Note McMaster, V, 200-204.]
+
+When, then, the Abolitionists began their campaign the country was
+already ripe for a struggle, and in the North as well as the South there
+was plenty of sentiment unfavorable to the Negro. In July, 1831, when an
+attempt was made to start a manual training school for Negro youth in
+New Haven, the citizens at a public meeting declared that "the founding
+of colleges for educating colored people is an unwarrantable and
+dangerous interference with the internal concerns of other states, and
+ought to be discouraged"; and they ultimately forced the project to be
+abandoned. At Canterbury in the same state Prudence Crandall, a young
+Quaker woman twenty-nine years of age, was brought face to face with the
+problem when she admitted a Negro girl, Sarah Harris, to her school.[1]
+When she was boycotted she announced that she would receive Negro girls
+only if no others would attend, and she advertised accordingly in the
+Liberator. She was subjected to various indignities and efforts were
+made to arrest her pupils as vagrants. As she was still undaunted, her
+opponents, on May 24, 1833, procured a special act of the legislature
+forbidding, under severe penalties, the instruction of any Negro from
+outside the state without the consent of the town authorities. Under
+this act Miss Crandall was arrested and imprisoned, being confined to a
+cell which had just been vacated by a murderer. The Abolitionists came
+to her defense, but she was convicted, and though the higher courts
+quashed the proceedings on technicalities, the village shopkeepers
+refused to sell her food, manure was thrown into her well, her house
+was pelted with rotten eggs and at last demolished, and even the
+meeting-house in the town was closed to her. The attempt to continue the
+school was then abandoned. In 1834 an academy was built by subscription
+in Canaan, N.H.; it was granted a charter by the legislature, and the
+proprietors determined to admit all applicants having "suitable moral
+and intellectual recommendations, without other distinctions." The
+town-meeting "viewed with abhorrence" the attempt to establish the
+school, but when it was opened twenty-eight white and fourteen Negro
+scholars attended. The town-meeting then ordered that the academy be
+forcibly removed and appointed a committee to execute the mandate.
+Accordingly on August 10 three hundred men with two hundred oxen
+assembled, took the edifice from its place, dragged it for some distance
+and left it a ruin. From 1834 to 1836, in fact, throughout the country,
+from east to west, swept a wave of violence. Not less than twenty-five
+attempts were made to break up anti-slavery meetings. In New York in
+October, 1833, there was a riot in Clinton Hall, and from July 7 to 11
+of the next year a succession of riots led to the sacking of the house
+of Lewis Tappan and the destruction of other houses and churches. When
+George Thompson arrived from England in September, 1834, his meetings
+were constantly disturbed, and Garrison himself was mobbed in Boston in
+1835, being dragged through the streets with a rope around his body.
+
+[Footnote 1: Note especially "Connecticut's Canterbury Tale; its
+Heroine, Prudence Crandall, and its Moral for To-Day, by John C.
+Kimball," Hartford (1886).]
+
+In general the Abolitionists were charged by the South with promoting
+both insurrection and the amalgamation of the races. There was no clear
+proof of these charges; nevertheless, May said, "If we do not emancipate
+our slaves by our own moral energy, they will emancipate themselves and
+that by a process too horrible to contemplate";[1] and Channing said,
+"Allowing that amalgamation is to be anticipated, then, I maintain, we
+have no right to resist it. Then it is not unnatural."[2] While the
+South grew hysterical at the thought, it was, as Hart remarks, a fair
+inquiry, which the Abolitionists did not hesitate to put--Who was
+responsible for the only amalgamation that had so far taken place? After
+a few years there was a cleavage among the Abolitionists. Some of the
+more practical men, like Birney, Gerrit Smith, and the Tappans, who
+believed in fighting through governmental machinery, in 1838 broke away
+from the others and prepared to take a part in Federal politics. This
+was the beginning of the Liberty party, which nominated Birney for the
+presidency in 1840 and again in 1844. In 1848 it became merged in the
+Free Soil party and ultimately in the Republican party.
+
+[Footnote 1: Hart, 221, citing _Liberator_, V, 59.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Hart, 216, citing Channing, _Works_, V. 57.]
+
+With the forties came division in the Church--a sort of prelude to the
+great events that were to thunder through the country within the next
+two decades. Could the Church really countenance slavery? Could a bishop
+hold a slave? These were to become burning questions. In 1844-5 the
+Baptists of the North and East refused to approve the sending out of
+missionaries who owned slaves, and the Southern Baptist Convention
+resulted. In 1844, when James O. Andrew came into the possession of
+slaves by his marriage to a widow who had these as a legacy from her
+former husband, the Northern Methodists refused to grant that one of
+their bishops might hold a slave, and the Methodist Episcopal Church,
+South, was formally organized in Louisville the following year. The
+Presbyterians and the Episcopalians, more aristocratic in tone, did not
+divide.
+
+The great events of the annexation of Texas, with the Mexican War that
+resulted, the Compromise of 1850, with the Fugitive Slave Law, the
+Kansas-Nebraska Bill of 1854, and the Dred Scott decision of 1857
+were all regarded in the North as successive steps in the campaign of
+slavery, though now in the perspective they appear as vain efforts to
+beat back a resistless tide. In the Mexican War it was freely urged by
+the Mexicans that, should the American line break, their host would soon
+find itself among the rich cities of the South, where perhaps it could
+not only exact money, but free two million slaves as well, call to its
+assistance the Indians, and even draw aid from the Abolitionists in the
+North.[1] Nothing of all this was to be. Out of the academic shades
+of Harvard, however, at last came a tongue of flame. In "The Present
+Crisis" James Russell Lowell produced lines whose tremendous beat was
+like a stern call of the whole country to duty:
+
+[Footnote 1: Justin H. Smith: _The War with Mexico_, I, 107.]
+
+  Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide,
+  In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side;
+  Some great cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight,
+  Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right,
+  And the choice goes by forever 'twixt that darkness and that light.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  Then to side with Truth is noble when we share her wretched crust,
+  Ere her cause bring fame and profit and 'tis prosperous to be just;
+  Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands aside,
+  Doubting in his abject spirit, till his Lord is crucified,
+  And the multitude make virtue of the faith they had denied.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  New occasions teach new duties; Time makes ancient good uncouth;
+  They must upward still and onward, who would keep abreast of Truth;
+  Lo, before us gleam her camp-fires! we ourselves must Pilgrims be,
+  Launch our _Mayflower_, and steer boldly through the desperate winter sea,
+  Nor attempt the Future's portal with the Past's blood-rusted key.
+
+As "The Present Crisis" came after the Mexican War, so after the new
+Fugitive Slave Law appeared _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ (1852). "When despairing
+Hungarian fugitives make their way, against all the search-warrants and
+authorities of their lawful governments, to America, press and political
+cabinet ring with applause and welcome. When despairing African
+fugitives do the same thing--it is--what _is_ it?" asked Harriet Beecher
+Stowe; and in her remarkable book she proceeded to show the injustice of
+the national position. _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ has frequently been termed
+a piece of propaganda that gave an overdrawn picture of Southern
+conditions. The author, however, had abundant proof for her incidents,
+and she was quite aware of the fact that the problem of the Negro, North
+as well as South, transcended the question of slavery. Said St. Clair
+to Ophelia: "If we emancipate, are you willing to educate? How many
+families of your town would take in a Negro man or woman, teach them,
+bear with them, and seek to make them Christians? How many merchants
+would take Adolph, if I wanted to make him a clerk; or mechanics, if I
+wanted to teach him a trade? If I wanted to put Jane and Rosa to school,
+how many schools are there in the Northern states that would take them
+in?... We are in a bad position. We are the more _obvious_ oppressors of
+the Negro; but the unchristian prejudice of the North is an oppressor
+almost equally severe."
+
+Meanwhile the thrilling work of the Underground Railroad was answered
+by a practical reopening of the slave-trade. From 1820 to 1840, as the
+result of the repressive measure of 1819, the traffic had declined;
+between 1850 and 1860, however, it was greatly revived, and Southern
+conventions resolved that all laws, state or Federal, prohibiting the
+slave-trade, should be repealed. The traffic became more and more open
+and defiant until, as Stephen A. Douglas computed, as many as 15,000
+slaves were brought into the country in 1859. It was not until the
+Lincoln government in 1862 hanged the first trader who ever suffered
+the extreme penalty of the law, and made with Great Britain a treaty
+embodying the principle of international right of search, that the
+trade was effectually checked. By the end of the war it was entirely
+suppressed, though as late as 1866 a squadron of ships patrolled the
+slave coast.
+
+The Kansas-Nebraska Bill, repealing the Missouri Compromise and
+providing for "squatter sovereignty" in the territories in question,
+outraged the North and led immediately to the forming of the Republican
+party. It was not long before public sentiment began to make itself
+felt, and the first demonstration took place in Boston. Anthony Burns
+was a slave who escaped from Virginia and made his way to Boston, where
+he was at work in the winter of 1853-4. He was discovered by a United
+States marshal who presented a writ for his arrest just at the time
+of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise in May, 1854. Public feeling
+became greatly aroused. Wendell Phillips and Theodore Parker delivered
+strong addresses at a meeting in Faneuil Hall while an unsuccessful
+attempt to rescue Burns from the Court House was made under the
+leadership of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, who with others of the
+attacking party was wounded. It was finally decided in court that Burns
+must be returned to his master. The law was obeyed; but Boston had been
+made very angry, and generally her feeling had counted for something in
+the history of the country. The people draped their houses in mourning,
+hissed the procession that took Burns to his ship and at the wharf a
+riot was averted only by a minister's call to prayer. This incident did
+more to crystallize Northern sentiment against slavery than any other
+except the exploit of John Brown, and this was the last time that a
+fugitive slave was taken out of Boston. Burns himself was afterwards
+bought by popular subscription, and ultimately became a Baptist minister
+in Canada.
+
+In 1834 Dr. Emerson, an army officer stationed in Missouri, removed to
+Illinois, taking with him his slave, Dred Scott. Two years later, again
+accompanied by Scott, he went to Minnesota. In Illinois slavery was
+prohibited by state law and Minnesota was a free territory. In 1838
+Emerson returned with Scott to Missouri. After a while the slave raised
+the important question: Had not his residence outside of a slave state
+made him a free man? Beaten by his master in 1848, with the aid of
+anti-slavery lawyers Scott brought a suit against him for assault and
+battery, the circuit court of St. Louis rendering a decision in his
+favor. Emerson appealed and in 1852 the Supreme Court of the state
+reversed the decision of the lower court. Not long after this Emerson
+sold Scott to a citizen of New York named Sandford. Scott now brought
+suit against Sandford, on the ground that they were citizens of
+different states. The case finally reached the Supreme Court of the
+United States, which in 1857 handed down the decision that Scott was not
+a citizen of Missouri and had no standing in the Federal courts, that
+a slave was only a piece of property, and that a master might take his
+property with impunity to any place within the jurisdiction of the
+United States. The ownership of Scott and his family soon passed to a
+Massachusetts family by whom they were liberated; but the important
+decision that the case had called forth aroused the most intense
+excitement throughout the country, and somehow out of it all people
+remembered more than anything else the amazing declaration of Chief
+Justice Taney that "the Negroes were so far inferior that they had
+no rights which the white man was bound to respect." The extra-legal
+character and the general fallacy of his position were exposed by
+Justice Curtis in a masterly dissenting opinion.
+
+No one incident of the period showed more clearly the tension under
+which the country was laboring than the assault on Charles Sumner by
+Preston S. Brooks, a congressional representative from South Carolina.
+As a result of this regrettable occurrence splendid canes with such
+inscriptions as "Hit him again" and "Use knock-down arguments" were sent
+to Brooks from different parts of the South and he was triumphantly
+reëlected by his constituency, while on the other hand resolutions
+denouncing him were passed all over the North, in Canada, and even in
+Europe. More than ever the South was thrown on the defensive, and in
+impassioned speeches Robert Toombs now glorified his state and his
+section. Speaking at Emory College in 1853 he had already made an
+extended apology for slavery;[1] speaking in the Georgia legislature on
+the eve of secession he contended that the South had been driven to bay
+by the Abolitionists and must now "expand or perish." A writer in the
+_Southern Literary Messenger_,[2] in an article "The Black Race in North
+America," made the astonishing statement that "the slavery of the black
+race on this continent is the price America has paid for her liberty,
+civil and religious, and, humanly speaking, these blessings would
+have been unattainable without their aid." Benjamin M. Palmer, a
+distinguished minister of New Orleans, in a widely quoted sermon in 1860
+spoke of the peculiar trust that had been given to the South--to be the
+guardians of the slaves, the conservers of the world's industry, and the
+defenders of the cause of religion.[3] "The blooms upon Southern fields
+gathered by black hands have fed the spindles and looms of Manchester
+and Birmingham not less than of Lawrence and Lowell. Strike now a blow
+at this system of labor and the world itself totters at the stroke.
+Shall we permit that blow to fall? Do we not owe it to civilized man to
+stand in the breach and stay the uplifted arm?... This trust we will
+discharge in the face of the worst possible peril. Though war be the
+aggregation of all evils, yet, should the madness of the hour appeal to
+the arbitration of the sword, we will not shrink even from the baptism
+of fire.... The position of the South is at this moment sublime. If
+she has grace given her to know her hour, she will save herself, the
+country, and the world."
+
+[Footnote 1: See "An Oration delivered before the Few and Phi Gamma
+Societies of Emory College: Slavery in the United States; its
+consistency with republican institutions, and its effects upon the slave
+and society. Augusta, Ga., 1853."]
+
+[Footnote 2: November, 1855.]
+
+[Footnote 3: "The Rights of the South defended in the Pulpits, by B.M.
+Palmer, D.D., and W.T. Leacock, D.D., Mobile, 1860."]
+
+All of this was very earnest and very eloquent, but also very mistaken,
+and the general fallacy of the South's position was shown by no less a
+man than he who afterwards became vice-president of the Confederacy.
+Speaking in the Georgia legislature in opposition to the motion for
+secession, Stephens said that the South had no reason to feel aggrieved,
+for all along she had received more than her share of the nation's
+privileges, and had almost always won in the main that which was
+demanded. She had had sixty years of presidents to the North's
+twenty-four; two-thirds of the clerkships and other appointments
+although the white population in the section was only one-third that
+of the country; fourteen attorneys general to the North's five;
+and eighteen Supreme Court judges to the North's eleven, although
+four-fifths of the business of the court originated in the free states.
+"This," said Stephens in an astonishing declaration, "we have required
+so as to guard against any interpretation of the Constitution
+unfavorable to us."
+
+Still another voice from the South, in a slightly different key,
+attacked the tendencies in the section. _The Impending Crisis_ (1857),
+by Hinton Rowan Helper, of North Carolina, was surpassed in sensational
+interest by no other book of the period except _Uncle Tom's Cabin_. The
+author did not place himself upon the broadest principles of humanity
+and statesmanship; he had no concern for the Negro, and the great
+planters of the South were to him simply the "whelps" and "curs" of
+slavery. He spoke merely as the voice of the non-slaveholding white men
+in the South. He set forth such unpleasant truths as that the personal
+and real property, including slaves, of Virginia, North Carolina,
+Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, Florida, and Texas, taken all together,
+was less than the real and personal estate in the single state of New
+York; that representation in Southern legislatures was unfair; that in
+Congress a Southern planter was twice as powerful as a Northern man;
+that slavery was to blame for the migration from the South to the West;
+and that in short the system was in every way harmful to the man of
+limited means. All of this was decidedly unpleasant to the ears of the
+property owners of the South; Helper's book was proscribed, and the
+author himself found it more advisable to live in New York than in his
+native state. _The Impending Crisis_ was eagerly read, however, and it
+succeeded as a book because it attempted to attack with some degree of
+honesty a great economic problem.
+
+The time for speeches and books, however, was over, and the time for
+action had come. For years the slave had chanted, "I've been listenin'
+all the night long"; and his prayer had reached the throne. On October
+16, 1859, John Brown made his raid on Harper's Ferry and took his place
+with the immortals. In the long and bitter contest on American slavery
+the Abolitionists had won.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+SOCIAL PROGRESS, 1820-1860[1]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: This chapter follows closely upon Chapter III, Section 5,
+and is largely complementary to Chapter VIII.]
+
+So far in our study we have seen the Negro as the object of interest
+on the part of the American people. Some were disposed to give him a
+helping hand, some to keep him in bondage, and some thought that it
+might be possible to dispose of any problem by sending him out of the
+country. In all this period of agitation and ferment, aside from the
+efforts of friends in his behalf, just what was the Negro doing to work
+out his own salvation? If for the time being we can look primarily at
+constructive effort rather than disabilities, just what do we find that
+on his own account he was doing to rise to the full stature of manhood?
+
+Naturally in the answer to such a question we shall have to be concerned
+with those people who had already attained unto nominal freedom. We
+shall indeed find many examples of industrious slaves who, working in
+agreement with their owners, managed sometimes to purchase themselves
+and even to secure ownership of their families. Such cases, while
+considerable in the aggregate, were after all exceptional, and for the
+ordinary slave on the plantation the outlook was hopeless enough.
+In 1860 the free persons formed just one-ninth of the total Negro
+population in the country, there being 487,970 of them to 3,953,760
+slaves. It is a commonplace to remark the progress that the race has
+made since emancipation. A study of the facts, however, will show that
+with all their disadvantages less than half a million people had before
+1860 not only made such progress as amasses a surprising total, but that
+they had already entered every large field of endeavor in which the race
+is engaged to-day.
+
+When in course of time the status of the Negro in the American body
+politic became a live issue, the possibility and the danger of an
+_imperium in imperio_ were perceived; and Rev. James W.C. Pennington,
+undoubtedly a leader, said in his lectures in London and Glasgow: "The
+colored population of the United States have no destiny separate from
+that of the nation in which they form an integral part. Our destiny is
+bound up with that of America. Her ship is ours; her pilot is ours; her
+storms are ours; her calms are ours. If she breaks upon any rock, we
+break with her. If we, born in America, can not live upon the same soil
+upon terms of equality with the descendants of Scotchmen, Englishmen,
+Irishmen, Frenchmen, Germans, Hungarians, Greeks, and Poles, then the
+fundamental theory of America fails and falls to the ground."[1] While
+everybody was practically agreed upon this fundamental matter of the
+relation of the race to the Federal Government, more and more there
+developed two lines of thought, equally honest, as to the means by which
+the race itself was to attain unto the highest things that American
+civilization had to offer. The leader of one school of thought was
+Richard Allen, founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. When
+this man and his friends found that in white churches they were not
+treated with courtesy, they said, We shall have our own church; we shall
+have our own bishop; we shall build up our own enterprises in any line
+whatsoever; and even to-day the church that Allen founded remains as
+the greatest single effort of the race in organization. The foremost
+representative of the opposing line of thought was undoubtedly Frederick
+Douglass, who in a speech in Rochester in 1848 said: "I am well aware of
+the anti-Christian prejudices which have excluded many colored persons
+from white churches, and the consequent necessity for erecting their own
+places of worship. This evil I would charge upon its originators, and
+not the colored people. But such a necessity does not now exist to the
+extent of former years. There are societies where color is not regarded
+as a test of membership, and such places I deem more appropriate for
+colored persons than exclusive or isolated organizations." There is much
+more difference between these two positions than can be accounted for by
+the mere lapse of forty years between the height of the work of Allen
+and that of Douglass. Allen certainly did not sanction segregation under
+the law, and no man worked harder than he to relieve his people from
+proscription. Douglass moreover, who did not formally approve of
+organizations that represented any such distinction as that of race,
+again and again presided over gatherings of Negro men. In the last
+analysis, however, it was Allen who was foremost in laying the basis
+of distinctively Negro enterprise, and Douglass who felt that the real
+solution of any difficulty was for the race to lose itself as quickly as
+possible in the general body politic.
+
+[Footnote 1: Nell: _Colored Patriots of the American Revolution_, 356.]
+
+We have seen that the Church was from the first the race's foremost form
+of social organization, and that sometimes in very close touch with
+it developed the early lodges of such a body as the Masons. By 1800
+emancipation was well under way; then began emigration from the South
+to the central West; emigration brought into being the Underground
+Railroad; and finally all forces worked together for the development of
+Negro business, the press, conventions, and other forms of activity. It
+was natural that states so close to the border as Pennsylvania and Ohio
+should be important in this early development.
+
+The Church continued the growth that it had begun several decades
+before. The A.M.E. denomination advanced rapidly from 7 churches and 400
+members in 1816 to 286 churches and 73,000 members by the close of the
+Civil War. Naturally such a distinctively Negro organization could
+make little progress in the South before the war, but there were small
+congregations in Charleston and New Orleans, and William Paul Quinn
+blazed a path in the West, going from Pittsburgh to St. Louis.
+
+In 1847 the Prince Hall Lodge of the Masons in Massachusetts, the First
+Independent African Grand Lodge in Pennsylvania, and the Hiram Grand
+Lodge of Pennsylvania formed a National Grand Lodge, and from one or
+another of these all other Grand Lodges among Negroes have descended. In
+1842 the members of the Philomathean Institute of New York and of the
+Philadelphia Library Company and Debating Society applied for admission
+to the International Order of Odd Fellows. They were refused on account
+of their race. Thereupon Peter Ogden, a Negro, who had already joined
+the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows of England, secured a charter for
+the first Negro American lodge, Philomathean, No. 646, of New York,
+which was set up March 1, 1843. It was followed within the next two
+years by lodges in New York, Philadelphia, Albany, and Poughkeepsie. The
+Knights of Pythias were not organized until 1864 in Washington; but the
+Grand Order of Galilean Fishermen started on its career in Baltimore in
+1856.
+
+The benefit societies developed apace. At first they were small and
+confined to a group of persons well known to each other, thus being
+genuinely fraternal. Simple in form, they imposed an initiation fee of
+hardly less than $2.50 or more than $5.00, a monthly fee of about 50
+cents, and gave sick dues ranging from $1.50 to $5.00 a month, with
+guarantee of payment of one's funeral expenses and subsequent help to
+the widow. By 1838 there were in Philadelphia alone 100 such groups with
+7,448 members. As bringing together spirits supposedly congenial, these
+organizations largely took the place of clubs, and the meetings were
+relished accordingly. Some drifted into secret societies, and after the
+Civil War some that had not cultivated the idea of insurance were forced
+to add this feature to their work.
+
+In the sphere of civil rights the Negroes, in spite of circumstances,
+were making progress, and that by their own efforts as well as those
+of their friends the Abolitionists. Their papers helped decidedly. The
+_Journal of Freedom_ (commonly known as _Freedom's Journal_), begun
+March 30, 1827, ran for three years. It had numerous successors, but
+no one of outstanding strength before the _North Star_ (later known as
+_Frederick Douglass' Paper_) began publication in 1847, continuing
+until the Civil War. Largely through the effort of Paul Cuffe for the
+franchise, New Bedford, Mass., was generally prominent in all that made
+for racial prosperity. Here even by 1850 the Negro voters held the
+balance of power and accordingly exerted a potent influence on Election
+day.[1] Under date March 6, 1840, there was brought up for repeal so
+much of the Massachusetts Statutes as forbade intermarriage between
+white persons and Negroes, mulattoes, or Indians, as "contrary to the
+principles of Christianity and republicanism." The committee said that
+it did not recommend a repeal in the expectation that the number of
+connections, legal or illegal, between the races would be thereupon
+increased; but its object rather was that wherever such connections were
+found the usual civil liabilities and obligations should not fail to
+attach to the contracting parties. The enactment was repealed. In the
+same state, by January, 1843, an act forbidding discrimination
+on railroads was passed. This grew out of separate petitions or
+remonstrances from Francis Jackson and Joseph Nunn, each man being
+supported by friends, and the petitioners based their request "not on
+the supposition that the colored man is not as well treated as his white
+fellow-citizen, but on the broad principle that the constitution allows
+no distinction in public privileges among the different classes of
+citizens in this commonwealth."[2] In New York City an interesting
+case arose over the question of public conveyances. When about 1852
+horse-cars began to supersede omnibuses on the streets, the Negro was
+excluded from the use of them, and he continued to be excluded until
+1855, when a decision of Judge Rockwell gave him the right to enter
+them. The decision was ignored and the Negro continued to be excluded as
+before. One Sunday in May, however, Rev. James W.C. Pennington, after
+service, reminded his hearers of Judge Rockwell's decision, urged them
+to stand up for their rights, and especially to inform any friends who
+might visit the city during the coming anniversary week that Negroes
+were no longer excluded from the street cars. He himself then boarded a
+car on Sixth Avenue, refused to leave when requested to do so, and was
+forcibly ejected. He brought suit against the company and won his case;
+and thus the Negro made further advance toward full citizenship in New
+York.[3]
+
+[Footnote 1: Nell, III.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Senate document 63 of 1842.]
+
+[Footnote 3: McMaster, VIII, 74.]
+
+Thus was the Negro developing in religious organization, in his benefit
+societies, and toward his rights as a citizen. When we look at the
+economic life upon which so much depended, we find that rather amazing
+progress had been made. Doors were so often closed to the Negro,
+competing white artisans were so often openly hostile, and he himself
+labored under so many disadvantages generally that it has often been
+thought that his economic advance before 1860 was negligible; but
+nothing could be farther from the truth. It must not be forgotten that
+for decades the South had depended upon Negro men for whatever was to
+be done in all ordinary trades; some brick-masons, carpenters, and
+shoemakers had served a long apprenticeship and were thoroughly
+accomplished; and when some of the more enterprising of these men
+removed to the North or West they took their training with them. Very
+few persons became paupers. Certainly many were destitute, especially
+those who had most recently made their way from slavery; and in general
+the colored people cared for their own poor. In 1852, of 3500 Negroes in
+Cincinnati, 200 were holders of property who paid taxes on their real
+estate.[1] In 1855 the Negro per capita ownership of property compared
+most favorably with that of the white people. Altogether the Negroes
+owned $800,000 worth of property in the city and $5,000,000 worth in the
+state. In the city there were among other workers three bank tellers,
+a landscape artist who had visited Rome to complete his education, and
+nine daguerreotypists, one of whom was the best in the entire West.[2]
+Of 1696 Negroes at work in Philadelphia in 1856, some of the more
+important occupations numbered workers as follows: tailors, dressmakers,
+and shirtmakers, 615; barbers, 248; shoemakers, 66; brickmakers, 53;
+carpenters, 49; milliners, 45; tanners, 24; cake-bakers, pastry-cooks,
+or confectioners, 22; blacksmiths, 22. There were also 15 musicians or
+music-teachers, 6 physicians, and 16 school-teachers.[3] The foremost
+and the most wealthy man of business of the race in the country about
+1850 was Stephen Smith, of the firm of Smith and Whipper, of Columbia,
+Pa.[4] He and his partner were lumber merchants. Smith was a man of wide
+interests. He invested his capital judiciously, engaging in real estate
+and spending much of his time in Philadelphia, where he owned more than
+fifty brick houses, while Whipper, a relative, attended to the business
+of the firm. Together these men gave employment to a large number of
+persons. Of similar quality was Samuel T. Wilcox, of Cincinnati, the
+owner of a large grocery business who also engaged in real estate. Henry
+Boyd, of Cincinnati, was the proprietor of a bedstead manufactory that
+filled numerous orders from the South and West and that sometimes
+employed as many as twenty-five men, half of whom were white. Sometimes
+through an humble occupation a Negro rose to competence; thus one of the
+eighteen hucksters in Cincinnati became the owner of $20,000 worth of
+property. Here and there several caterers and tailors became known as
+having the best places in their line of business in their respective
+towns. John Julius, of Pittsburgh, was the proprietor of a brilliant
+place known as Concert Hall. When President-elect William Henry Harrison
+in 1840 visited the city it was here that his chief reception was held.
+Cordovell became widely known as the name of the leading tailor and
+originator of fashions in New Orleans. After several years of success in
+business this merchant removed to France, where he enjoyed the fortune
+that he had accumulated.
+
+[Footnote 1: Clarke: _Condition of the Free Colored People of the United
+States_.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Nell, 285.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Bacon: _Statistics_, 13.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Delany.]
+
+Cordovell was representative of the advance of the people of mixed blood
+in the South. The general status of these people was better in Louisiana
+than anywhere else in the country, North or South; at the same time
+their situation was such as to call for special consideration. In
+Louisiana the "F.M.C." (Free Man of Color) formed a distinct and
+anomalous class in society.[1] As a free man he had certain rights, and
+sometimes his property holdings were very large.[2] In fact, in New
+Orleans a few years before the Civil War not less than one-fifth of the
+taxable property was in the hands of free people of color. At the same
+time the lot of these people was one of endless humiliation. Among some
+of them irregular household establishments were regularly maintained by
+white men, and there were held the "quadroon balls" which in course of
+time gave the city a distinct notoriety. Above the people of this group,
+however, was a genuine aristocracy of free people of color who had a
+long tradition of freedom, being descended from the early colonists,
+and whose family life was most exemplary. In general they lived to
+themselves. In fact, it was difficult for them to do otherwise. They
+were often compelled to have papers filled out by white guardians, and
+they were not allowed to be visited by slaves or to have companionship
+with them, even when attending church or walking along the roads.
+Sometimes free colored men owned their women and children in order that
+the latter might escape the invidious law against Negroes recently
+emancipated; or the situation was sometimes turned around, as in
+Norfolk, Va., where several women owned their husbands. When the name
+of a free man of color had to appear on any formal document--a deed of
+conveyance, a marriage-license, a certificate of birth or death, or
+even in a newspaper report--the initials F.M.C. had to be appended. In
+Louisiana these people petitioned in vain for the suffrage, and at the
+outbreak of the Civil War organized and splendidly equipped for the
+Confederacy two battalions of five hundred men. For these they chose
+two distinguished white commanders, and the governor accepted their
+services, only to have to inform them later that the Confederacy
+objected to the enrolling of Negro soldiers. In Charleston thirty-seven
+men in a remarkable petition also formally offered their services to the
+Confederacy.[3] What most readily found illustration in New Orleans or
+Charleston was also true to some extent of other centers of free people
+of color such as Mobile and Baltimore. In general the F.M.C.'s
+were industrious and they almost monopolized one or two avenues of
+employment; but as a group they had not yet learned to place themselves
+upon the broad basis of racial aspiration.
+
+[Footnote 1: See "The F.M.C.'s of Louisiana," by P.F. de Gournay,
+_Lippincott's Magazine_, April, 1894; and "Black Masters," by Calvin
+Dill Wilson, _North American Review_, November, 1905.]
+
+[Footnote 2: See Stone: "The Negro in the South," in _The South in the
+Building of the Nation_, X, 180.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Note broadside (Charleston, 1861) accessible in Special
+Library of Boston Public Library as Document No. 9 in 20th Cab. 3. 7.]
+
+Whatever may have been the situation of special groups, however, it can
+readily be seen that there were at least some Negroes in the country--a
+good many in the aggregate--who by 1860 were maintaining a high standard
+in their ordinary social life. It must not be forgotten that we are
+dealing with a period when the general standard of American culture was
+by no means what it is to-day. "Four-fifths of the people of the United
+States of 1860 lived in the country, and it is perhaps fair to say that
+half of these dwelt in log houses of one or two rooms. Comforts such
+as most of us enjoy daily were as good as unknown.... For the workaday
+world shirtsleeves, heavy brogan boots and shoes, and rough wool hats
+were the rule."[1] In Philadelphia, a fairly representative city,
+there were at this time a considerable number of Negroes of means or
+professional standing. These people were regularly hospitable; they
+visited frequently; and they entertained in well furnished parlors with
+music and refreshments. In a day when many of their people had not
+yet learned to get beyond showiness in dress, they were temperate and
+self-restrained, they lived within their incomes, and they retired at a
+seasonable hour.[2]
+
+[Footnote 1: W.E. Dodd: _Expansion and Conflict_, Volume 3 of "Riverside
+History of the United States," Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1915, p.
+208.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Turner: _The Negro in Pennsylvania_, 140.]
+
+In spite moreover of all the laws and disadvantages that they had to
+meet the Negroes also made general advance in education. In the South
+efforts were of course sporadic, but Negroes received some teaching
+through private or clandestine sources.[1] More than one slave learned
+the alphabet while entertaining the son of his master. In Charleston
+for a long time before the Civil War free Negroes could attend schools
+especially designed for their benefit and kept by white people or other
+Negroes. The course of study not infrequently embraced such subjects as
+physiology, physics, and plane geometry. After John Brown's raid the
+order went forth that no longer should any colored person teach Negroes.
+This resulted in a white person's being brought to sit in the classroom,
+though at the outbreak of the war schools were closed altogether. In the
+North, in spite of all proscription, conditions were somewhat better. As
+early as 1850 there were in the public schools in New York 3,393 Negro
+children, these sustaining about the same proportion to the Negro
+population that white children sustained to the total white population.
+Two institutions for the higher education of the Negro were established
+before the Civil War, Lincoln University in Pennsylvania (1854) and
+Wilberforce University in Ohio (1856). Oberlin moreover was founded in
+1833. In 1835 Professor Asa Mahan, of Lane Seminary, was offered the
+presidency. As he was an Abolitionist he said that he would accept only
+if Negroes were admitted on equal terms with other students. After a
+warm session of the trustees the vote was in his favor. Though, before
+this, individual Negroes had found their way into Northern institutions,
+it was here at Oberlin that they first received a real welcome. By the
+outbreak of the war nearly one-third of the students were of the Negro
+race, and one of the graduates, John M. Langston, was soon to be
+generally prominent in the affairs of the country.
+
+[Footnote 1: For interesting examples see C.G. Woodson: _The Education
+of the Negro prior to 1861_.]
+
+It has been maintained that in their emphasis on education and on the
+highest culture possible for the Negro the Abolitionists were mere
+visionaries who had no practical knowledge whatever of the race's real
+needs. This was neither true nor just. It was absolutely necessary first
+of all to establish the Negro's right to enter any field occupied by any
+other man, and time has vindicated this position. Even in 1850, however,
+the needs of the majority of the Negro people for advance in their
+economic life were not overlooked either by the Abolitionists or the
+Negroes themselves. Said Martin V. Delany: "Our elevation must be the
+result of _self-efforts_, and work of our _own hands_. No other human
+power can accomplish it.... Let our young men and young women prepare
+themselves for usefulness and business; that the men may enter into
+merchandise, trading, and other things of importance; the young women
+may become teachers of various kinds, and otherwise fill places of
+usefulness. Parents must turn their attention more to the education of
+their children. We mean, to educate them for useful practical business
+purposes. Educate them for the store and counting-house--to do everyday
+practical business. Consult the children's propensities, and direct
+their education according to their inclinations. It may be that there
+is too great a desire on the part of parents to give their children a
+professional education, before the body of the people are ready for it.
+A people must be a business people and have more to depend upon than
+mere help in people's houses and hotels, before they are either able to
+support or capable of properly appreciating the services of professional
+men among them. This has been one of our great mistakes--we have gone
+in advance of ourselves. We have commenced at the superstructure of the
+building, instead of the foundation--at the top instead of the bottom.
+We should first be mechanics and common tradesmen, and professions as a
+matter of course would grow out of the wealth made thereby."[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: _The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of
+the Colored People of the United States, Politically Considered_,
+Philadelphia, 1852, P. 45.]
+
+In professional life the Negro had by 1860 made a noteworthy beginning.
+Already he had been forced to give attention to the law, though as yet
+little by way of actual practice had been done. In this field Robert
+Morris, Jr., of Boston, was probably foremost. William C. Nell, of
+Rochester and Boston, at the time prominent in newspaper work and
+politics, is now best remembered for his study of the Negro in the early
+wars of the country. About the middle of the century Samuel Ringgold
+Ward, author of the _Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro_, and one of the
+most eloquent men of the time, was for several years pastor of a white
+Congregational church in Courtlandville, N.Y.; and Henry Highland
+Garnett was the pastor of a white congregation in Troy, and well known
+as a public-spirited citizen as well. Upon James W.C. Pennington the
+degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred by Heidelberg, and generally
+this man had a reputation in England and on the continent of Europe as
+well as in America. About the same time Bishops Daniel A. Payne and
+William Paul Quinn were adding to the dignity of the African Methodist
+Episcopal Church.
+
+Special interest attaches to the Negro physician. Even in colonial
+times, though there was much emphasis on the control of diseases by
+roots or charms, there was at least a beginning in work genuinely
+scientific. As early as 1792 a Negro named Cæsar had gained such
+distinction by his knowledge of curative herbs that the Assembly of
+South Carolina purchased his freedom and gave him an annuity. In the
+earlier years of the last century James Derham, of New Orleans, became
+the first regularly recognized Negro physician of whom there is
+a complete record. Born in Philadelphia in 1762, as a boy he was
+transferred to a physician for whom he learned to perform minor duties.
+Afterwards he was sold to a physician in New Orleans who used him as
+an assistant. Two or three years later he won his freedom, he became
+familiar with French and Spanish as well as English, and he soon
+commanded general respect by his learning and skill. About the middle
+of the century, in New York, James McCune Smith, a graduate of the
+University of Glasgow, was prominent. He was the author of several
+scientific papers, a man of wide interests, and universally held in high
+esteem. "The first real impetus to bring Negroes in considerable numbers
+into the professional world came from the American Colonization Society,
+which in the early years flourished in the South as well as the North
+... and undertook to prepare professional leaders of their race for the
+Liberian colony. 'To execute this scheme, leaders of the colonization
+movement endeavored to educate Negroes in mechanic arts, agriculture,
+science, and Biblical literature. Especially bright or promising youths
+were to be given special training as catechists, teachers, preachers,
+and physicians. Not much was said about what they were doing, but now
+and then appeared notices of Negroes who had been prepared privately in
+the South or publicly in the North for service in Liberia. Dr. William
+Taylor and Dr. Fleet were thus educated in the District of Columbia. In
+the same way John V. De Grasse, of New York, and Thomas J. White, of
+Brooklyn, were allowed to complete the medical course at Bowdoin
+in 1849. In 1854 Dr. De Grasse was admitted as a member of the
+Massachusetts Medical Society.'"[1] Martin V. Delany, more than once
+referred to in these pages, after being refused admission at a number of
+institutions, was admitted to the medical school at Harvard. He became
+distinguished for his work in a cholera epidemic in Pittsburgh in 1854.
+It was of course not until after the Civil War that medical departments
+were established in connection with some of the new higher institutions
+of learning for Negro students.
+
+[Footnote 1: Kelly Miller: "The Background of the Negro Physician,"
+_Journal of Negro History_, April, 1916, quoting in part Woodson: _The
+Education of the Negro prior to 1861_.]
+
+Before 1860 a situation that arose more than once took from Negroes the
+real credit for inventions. If a slave made an invention he was not
+permitted to take out a patent, for no slave could make a contract. At
+the same time the slave's master could not take out a patent for him,
+for the Government would not recognize the slave as having the legal
+right to make the assignment to his master. It is certain that Negroes,
+who did most of the mechanical work in the South before the Civil War,
+made more than one suggestion for the improvement of machinery. We have
+already referred to the strong claim put forth by a member of the race
+for the real credit of the cotton-gin. The honor of being the first
+Negro to be granted a patent belongs to Henry Blair, of Maryland, who in
+1834 received official protection for a corn harvester.
+
+Throughout the century there were numerous attempts at poetical
+composition, and several booklets were published. Perhaps the most
+promising was George Horton's _The Hope of Liberty_, which appeared in
+1829. Unfortunately, Horton could not get the encouragement that he
+needed and in course of time settled down to the life of a janitor at
+the University of North Carolina.[1] Six years before the war Frances
+Ellen Watkins (later Mrs. Harper) struck the popular note by readings
+from her _Miscellaneous Poems_, which ran through several editions.
+About the same time William Wells Brown was prominent, though he also
+worked for several years after the war. He was a man of decided talent
+and had traveled considerably. He wrote several books dealing with Negro
+history and biography; and he also treated racial subjects in a novel,
+_Clotel_, and in a drama, _The Escape_. The latter suffers from an
+excess of moralizing, but several times it flashes out with the quality
+of genuine drama, especially when it deals with the jealousy of a
+mistress for a favorite slave and the escape of the latter with her
+husband. In 1841 the first Negro magazine began to appear, this being
+issued by the A.M.E. Church. There were numerous autobiographies, that
+of Frederick Douglass, first appearing in 1845, running through edition
+after edition. On the stage there was the astonishing success of Ira
+Aldridge, a tragedian who in his earlier years went to Europe, where he
+had the advantage of association with Edmund Kean. About 1857 he was
+commonly regarded as one of the two or three greatest actors in the
+world. He became a member of several of the continental academies of
+arts and science, and received many decorations of crosses and medals,
+the Emperors of Russia and Austria and the King of Prussia being among
+those who honored him. In the great field of music there was much
+excellent work both in composition and in the performance on different
+instruments. Among the free people of color in Louisiana there were
+several distinguished musicians, some of whom removed to Europe for the
+sake of greater freedom.[2] The highest individual achievement was that
+of Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, of Philadelphia. This singer was of the
+very first rank. Her voice was of remarkable sweetness and had a compass
+of twenty-seven notes. She sang before many distinguished audiences in
+both Europe and America and was frequently compared with Jenny Lind,
+then at the height of her fame.
+
+[Footnote 1: See "George Moses Horton: Slave Poet," by Stephen B. Weeks,
+_Southern Workman_, October, 1914.]
+
+[Footnote 2: See Washington: _The Story of the Negro_, II, 276-7.]
+
+It is thus evident that honorable achievement on the part of Negroes
+and general advance in social welfare by no means began with the
+Emancipation Proclamation. In 1860 eight-ninths of the members of the
+race were still slaves, but in the face of every possible handicap the
+one-ninth that was free had entered practically every great field of
+human endeavor. Many were respected citizens in their communities, and a
+few had even laid the foundations of wealth. While there was as yet
+no book of unquestioned genius or scholarship, there was considerable
+intellectual activity, and only time and a little more freedom from
+economic pressure were needed for the production of works of the first
+order of merit.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE CIVIL WAR AND EMANCIPATION
+
+
+At the outbreak of the Civil War two great questions affecting the Negro
+overshadowed all others--his freedom and his employment as a soldier.
+The North as a whole had no special enthusiasm about the Negro and
+responded only to Lincoln's call to the duty of saving the Union. Among
+both officers and men moreover there was great prejudice against the use
+of the Negro as a soldier, the feeling being that he was disqualified
+by slavery and ignorance. Privates objected to meeting black men on the
+same footing as themselves and also felt that the arming of slaves to
+fight for their former masters would increase the bitterness of the
+conflict. If many men in the North felt thus, the South was furious at
+the thought of the Negro as a possible opponent in arms.
+
+The human problem, however, was not long in presenting itself and
+forcing attention. As soon as the Northern soldiers appeared in the
+South, thousands of Negroes--men, women, and children--flocked to their
+camps, feeling only that they were going to their friends. In May, 1861,
+while in command at Fortress Monroe, Major-General Benjamin F. Butler
+came into national prominence by his policy of putting to work the men
+who came within his lines and justifying their retention on the ground
+that, being of service to the enemy for purposes of war, they were like
+guns, powder, etc., "contraband of war," and could not be reclaimed. On
+August 30th of this same year Major-General John C. Fremont, in command
+in Missouri, placed the state under martial law and declared the slaves
+there emancipated. The administration was embarrassed, Fremont's order
+was annulled, and he was relieved of his command. On May 9, 1862,
+Major-General David Hunter, in charge of the Department of the South
+(South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida) issued his famous order freeing
+the slaves in his department, and thus brought to general attention the
+matter of the employment of Negro soldiers in the Union armies. The
+Confederate government outlawed Hunter, Lincoln annulled his order,
+and the grace of the nation was again saved; but in the meantime a new
+situation had arisen. While Brigadier-General John W. Phelps was taking
+part in the expedition against New Orleans, a large sugar-planter near
+the city, disgusted with Federal interference with affairs on his
+plantation, drove all his slaves away, telling them to go to their
+friends, the Yankees. The Negroes came to Phelps in great numbers, and
+for the sake of discipline he attempted to organize them into troops.
+Accordingly he, too, was outlawed by the Confederates, and his act was
+disavowed by the Union, that was not ready to take this step.
+
+Meanwhile President Lincoln was debating the Emancipation Proclamation.
+Pressure from radical anti-slavery sources was constantly being brought
+to bear upon him, and Horace Greeley in his famous editorial, "The
+Prayer of Twenty Millions," was only one of those who criticized what
+seemed to be his lack of strength in handling the situation. After
+McClellan's unsuccessful campaign against Richmond, however, he felt
+that the freedom of the slaves was a military and moral necessity for
+its effects upon both the North and the South; and Lee's defeat at
+Antietam, September 17, 1862, furnished the opportunity for which he
+had been waiting. Accordingly on September 22nd he issued a preliminary
+declaration giving notice that on January 1, 1865, he would free all
+slaves in the states still in rebellion, and asserting as before that
+the object of the war was the preservation of the Union.
+
+The Proclamation as finally issued January 1st is one of the most
+important public documents in the history of the United States, ranking
+only below the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution itself.
+It full text is as follows:
+
+    Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our
+    Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was
+    issued by the President of the United States containing among other
+    things the following, to-wit:
+
+    That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one
+    thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves
+    within any state or designated part of a state, the people whereof
+    shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then,
+    thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the
+    United States, including the military and naval authority thereof,
+    will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will
+    do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any
+    efforts they may make for their actual freedom.
+
+    That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by
+    proclamation, designate the states and parts of states, if any, in
+    which the people thereof shall then be in rebellion against the
+    United States; and the fact that any state, or the people thereof,
+    shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of
+    the United States, by members chosen thereto at elections wherein
+    a majority of the qualified voters of such state shall have
+    participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing
+    testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such state, and the
+    people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States.
+
+    Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States,
+    by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of
+    the Army and Navy of the United States, in time of actual armed
+    rebellion against the authority and government of the United
+    States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said
+    rebellion, do on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord
+    one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with
+    my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of
+    one hundred days from the date first above mentioned, order and
+    designate as the states and parts of states wherein the people
+    thereof respectively are this day in rebellion against the United
+    States, the following to-wit:
+
+    Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard,
+    Plaquemine, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension,
+    Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafourche, Ste. Marie, St. Martin, and
+    Orleans, including the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama,
+    Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia
+    (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and
+    also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City,
+    York, Princess Anne, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk
+    and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts are, for the present, left
+    precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.
+
+    And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order
+    and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated
+    states and parts of states are and henceforward shall be free, and
+    that the executive government of the United States, including the
+    military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain
+    the freedom of said persons.
+
+    And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to
+    abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense; and
+    I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor
+    faithfully for reasonable wages.
+
+    And I further declare and make known that such persons, of suitable
+    condition, will be received into the armed service of the United
+    States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and
+    to man vessels of all sorts in said service.
+
+    And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice,
+    warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the
+    considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty
+    God.
+
+    In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my name, and caused the
+    seal of the United States to be affixed.
+
+    Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the
+    year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of
+    the independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.
+
+    By the President,
+       ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
+
+    WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
+       Secretary of State.
+
+It will be observed that the Proclamation was merely a war measure
+resting on the constitutional power of the President. Its effects on the
+legal status of the slaves gave rise to much discussion; and it is to
+be noted that it did not apply to what is now West Virginia, to seven
+counties in Virginia, and to thirteen parishes in Louisiana, which
+districts had already come under Federal jurisdiction. All questions
+raised by the measure, however, were finally settled by the Thirteenth
+Amendment to the Constitution, and as a matter of fact freedom actually
+followed the progress of the Union arms from 1863 to 1865.
+
+Meanwhile from the very beginning of the war Negroes were used by the
+Confederates in making redoubts and in doing other rough work, and even
+before the Emancipation Proclamation there were many Northern officers
+who said that definite enlistment was advisable. They felt that such a
+course would help to destroy slavery and that as the Negroes had so much
+at stake they should have some share in the overthrow of the rebellion.
+They said also that the men would be proud to wear the national uniform.
+Individuals moreover as officers' servants saw much of fighting and won
+confidence in their ability; and as the war advanced and more and more
+men were killed the conviction grew that a Negro could stop a bullet as
+well as a white man and that in any case the use of Negroes for fatigue
+work would release numbers of other men for the actual fighting.
+
+At last--after a great many men had been killed and the Emancipation
+Proclamation had changed the status of the Negro--enlistment was decided
+on. The policy was that Negroes might be non-commissioned men while
+white men who had seen service would be field and line officers. In
+general it was expected that only those who had kindly feeling toward
+the Negro would be used as officers, but in the pressure of military
+routine this distinction was not always observed. Opinion for the race
+gained force after the Draft Riot in New York (July, 1863), when Negroes
+in the city were persecuted by the opponents of conscription. Soon a
+distinct bureau was established in Washington for the recording of
+all matters pertaining to Negro troops, a board was organized for the
+examination of candidates, and recruiting stations were set up in
+Maryland, Missouri, and Tennessee. The Confederates were indignant at
+the thought of having to meet black men on equal footing, and refused
+to exchange Negro soldiers for white men. How such action was met by
+Stanton, Secretary of War, may be seen from the fact that when he
+learned that three Negro prisoners had been placed in close confinement,
+he ordered three South Carolina men to be treated likewise, and the
+Confederate leaders to be informed of his policy.
+
+The economic advantage of enlistment was apparent. It gave work to
+187,000 men who had been cast adrift by the war and who had found no
+place of independent labor. It gave them food, clothing, wages, and
+protection, but most of all the feeling of self-respect that comes from
+profitable employment. To the men themselves the year of jubilee had
+come. At one great step they had crossed the gulf that separates
+chattels from men and they now had a chance to vindicate their manhood.
+A common poster of the day represented a Negro soldier bearing the
+flag, the shackles of a slave being broken, a young Negro boy reading
+a newspaper, and several children going into a public school. Over
+all were the words: "All Slaves were made Freemen by Abraham Lincoln,
+President of the United States, January 1st, 1863. Come, then,
+able-bodied Colored Men, to the nearest United States Camp, and fight
+for the Stars and Stripes."
+
+To the credit of the men be it said that in their new position they
+acted with dignity and sobriety. When they picketed lines through which
+Southern citizens passed, they acted with courtesy at the same time that
+they did their duty. They captured Southern men without insulting them,
+and by their own self-respect won the respect of others. Meanwhile their
+brothers in the South went about the day's work, caring for the widow
+and the orphan; and a nation that still lynches the Negro has to
+remember that in all these troublous years deeds of violence against
+white women and girls were absolutely unknown.
+
+Throughout the country the behavior of the black men under fire was
+watched with the most intense interest. More and more in the baptism of
+blood they justified the faith for which their friends had fought for
+years. At Port Hudson, Fort Wagner, Fort Pillow, and Petersburg their
+courage was most distinguished. Said the New York _Times_ of the battle
+at Port Hudson (1863): "General Dwight, at least, must have had the idea
+not only that they (the Negro troops) were men, but something more than
+men, from the terrific test to which he put their valor.... Their colors
+are torn to pieces by shot, and literally bespattered by blood and
+brains." This was the occasion on which Color-Sergeant Anselmas
+Planciancois said before a shell blew off his head, "Colonel, I will
+bring back these colors to you on honor, or report to God the reason
+why." On June 6 the Negroes again distinguished themselves and
+won friends by their bravery at Milliken's Bend. The Fifty-fourth
+Massachusetts, commanded by Robert Gould Shaw, was conspicuous in the
+attempt to take Fort Wagner, on Morris Island near Charleston, July 18,
+1863. The regiment had marched two days and two nights through swamps
+and drenching rains in order to be in time for the assault. In the
+engagement nearly all the officers of the regiment were killed, among
+them Colonel Shaw. The picturesque deed was that of Sergeant William H.
+Carney, who seized the regiment's colors from the hands of a falling
+comrade, planted the flag on the works, and said when borne bleeding and
+mangled from the field, "Boys, the old flag never touched the ground."
+Fort Pillow, a position on the Mississippi, about fifty miles above
+Memphis, was garrisoned by 557 men, 262 of whom were Negroes, when
+it was attacked April 13, 1864. The fort was finally taken by the
+Confederates, but the feature of the engagement was the stubborn
+resistance offered by the Union troops in the face of great odds. In the
+Mississippi Valley, and in the Department of the South, the Negro had
+now done excellent work as a soldier. In the spring of 1864 he made his
+appearance in the Army of the Potomac. In July there was around Richmond
+and Petersburg considerable skirmishing between the Federal and the
+Confederate forces. Burnside, commanding a corps composed partly of
+Negroes, dug under a Confederate fort a trench a hundred and fifty yards
+long. This was filled with explosives, and on July 30 the match was
+applied and the famous crater formed. Just before the explosion the
+Negroes had figured in a gallant charge on the Confederates. The plan
+was to follow the eruption by a still more formidable assault, in which
+Burnside wanted to give his Negro troops the lead. A dispute about this
+and a settlement by lot resulted in the awarding of precedence to a New
+Hampshire regiment. Said General Grant later of the whole unfortunate
+episode: "General Burnside wanted to put his colored division in front;
+I believe if he had done so it would have been a success." After the men
+of a Negro regiment had charged and taken a battery at Decatur, Ala., in
+October, 1864, and shown exceptional gallantry under fire, they received
+an ovation from their white comrades "who by thousands sprang upon the
+parapets and cheered the regiment as it reëntered the lines."[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: General Thomas J. Morgan: "The Negroes in the Civil War,"
+in the _Baptist Home Mission Monthly_, quoted in _Liberia_, Bulletin 12,
+February, 1898. General Morgan in October, 1863, became a major in the
+Fourteenth United States Colored Infantry. He organized the regiment and
+became its colonel. He also organized the Forty-second and Forty-fourth
+regiments of colored infantry.]
+
+When all was over there was in the North a spontaneous recognition of
+the right of such men to honorable and generous treatment at the hands
+of the nation, and in Congress there was the feeling that if the South
+could come back to the Union with its autonomy unimpaired, certainly
+the Negro soldier should have the rights of citizenship. Before the war
+closed, however, there was held in Syracuse, N.Y., a convention of Negro
+men that threw interesting light on the problems and the feeling of
+the period.[1] At this gathering John Mercer Langston was temporary
+chairman, Frederick Douglass, president, and Henry Highland Garnett, of
+Washington; James W.C. Pennington, of New York; George L. Ruffin, of
+Boston, and Ebenezer D. Bassett, of Philadelphia, were among the more
+prominent delegates. There was at the meeting a fear that some of the
+things that seemed to have been gained by the war might not actually be
+realized; and as Congress had not yet altered the Constitution so as to
+abolish slavery, grave question was raised by a recent speech in which
+no less a man than Seward, Secretary of State, had said: "When the
+insurgents shall have abandoned their armies and laid down their arms,
+the war will instantly cease; and all the war measures then existing,
+including those which affect slavery, will cease also." The convention
+thanked the President and the Thirty-Seventh Congress for revoking a
+prohibitory law in regard to the carrying of mails by Negroes, for
+abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, for recognizing Hayti
+and Liberia, and for the military order retaliating for the unmilitary
+treatment accorded Negro soldiers by the Confederate officers; and
+especially it thanked Senator Sumner "for his noble efforts to cleanse
+the statute-books of the nation from every stain of inequality against
+colored men," and General Butler for the stand he had taken early in the
+war. At the same time it resolved to send a petition to Congress to
+ask that the rights of the country's Negro patriots in the field be
+respected, and that the Government cease to set an example to those in
+arms against it by making invidious distinctions, based upon color, as
+to pay, labor, and promotion. It begged especially to be saved from
+supposed friends: "When the _Anti-Slavery Standard_, representing the
+American Anti-Slavery Society, denies that the society asks for the
+enfranchisement of colored men, and the _Liberator_ apologizes for
+excluding the colored men of Louisiana from the ballot-box, they injure
+us more vitally than all the ribald jests of the whole pro-slavery
+press." Finally the convention insisted that any such things as the
+right to own real estate, to testify in courts of law, and to sue and
+be sued, were mere privileges so long as general political liberty
+was withheld, and asked frankly not only for the formal and complete
+abolition of slavery in the United States, but also for the elective
+franchise in all the states then in the Union and in all that might come
+into the Union thereafter. On the whole this representative gathering
+showed a very clear conception of the problems facing the Negro and the
+country in 1864. Its reference to well-known anti-slavery publications
+shows not only the increasing race consciousness that came through this
+as through all other wars in which the country has engaged, but also the
+great drift toward conservatism that had taken place in the North within
+thirty years.
+
+[Footnote 1: See Proceedings of the National Convention of Colored Men,
+held in the city of Syracuse, N.Y., October 4, 5, 6, and 7, 1864, with
+the Bill of Wrongs and Rights, and the Address to the American People.
+Boston, 1864.]
+
+Whatever might be the questions of the moment, however, about the
+supreme blessing of freedom there could at last be no doubt. It had been
+long delayed and had finally come merely as an incident to the war;
+nevertheless a whole race of people had passed from death unto life.
+Then, as before and since, they found a parallel for their experiences
+in the story of the Jews in the Old Testament. They, too, had sojourned
+in Egypt and crossed the Red Sea. What they could not then see, or only
+dimly realize, was that they needed faith--faith in God and faith in
+themselves--for the forty years in the wilderness. They did not yet
+fully know that He who guided the children of Israel and drove out
+before them the Amorite and the Hittite, would bring them also to the
+Promised Land.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+To those who led the Negro in these wonderful years--to Robert Gould
+Shaw, the young colonel of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts, who
+died leading his men at Fort Wagner; to Norwood Penrose Hallowell,
+lieutenant-colonel of the Fifty-Fourth and then colonel of the
+Fifty-Fifth; to his brother, Edward N. Hallowell, who succeeded Shaw
+when he fell; and to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, who commanded the first
+regiment of freed slaves--no ordinary eulogy can apply. Their names are
+written in letters of flame and their deeds live after them. On the Shaw
+Monument in Boston are written these words:
+
+    The White Officers
+
+    Taking Life and Honor in their Hands--Cast their lot with Men of a
+    Despised Race Unproved in War--and Risked Death as Inciters of a
+    Servile Insurrection if Taken Prisoners, Besides Encountering all
+    the Common Perils of Camp, March, and Battle.
+
+    The Black Rank and File
+
+    Volunteered when Disaster Clouded the Union Cause--Served without
+    Pay for Eighteen Months till Given that of White Troops--Faced
+    Threatened Enslavement if Captured--Were Brave in Action--Patient
+    under Dangerous and Heavy Labors and Cheerful amid Hardships and
+    Privations.
+
+    Together
+
+    They Gave to the Nation Undying Proof that Americans of African
+    Descent Possess the Pride, Courage, and Devotion of the Patriot
+    Soldier--One Hundred and Eighty Thousand Such Americans Enlisted
+    under the Union Flag in MDCCCLXIII-MDCCCLXV.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE ERA OF ENFRANCHISEMENT
+
+
+1. _The Problem_
+
+
+At the close of the Civil War the United States found itself face to
+face with one of the gravest social problems of modern times. More and
+more it became apparent that it was not only the technical question of
+the restoration of the states to the Union that had to be considered,
+but the whole adjustment for the future of the lives of three and a half
+million Negroes and five and a half million white people in the South.
+In its final analysis the question was one of race, and to add to the
+difficulties of this problem it is to be regretted that there should
+have been actually upon the scene politicians and speculators who sought
+to capitalize for their own gain the public distress.
+
+The South was thoroughly demoralized, and the women who had borne the
+burden of the war at home were especially bitter. Slave property to the
+amount of two billions of dollars had been swept away; several of the
+chief cities had suffered bombardment; the railroads had largely run
+down; and the confiscation of property was such as to lead to the
+indemnification of thousands of claimants afterwards. The Negro was not
+yet settled in new places of abode, and his death rate was appalling.
+Throughout the first winter after the war the whole South was on the
+verge of starvation.
+
+Here undoubtedly was a difficult situation--one calling for the highest
+quality of statesmanship, and of sportsmanship on the part of the
+vanquished. Many Negroes, freed from the tradition of two hundred and
+fifty years of slavery, took a holiday; some resolved not to work any
+more as long as they lived, and some even appropriated to their own use
+the produce of their neighbors. If they remained on the old plantations,
+they feared that they might still be considered slaves; on the other
+hand, if they took to the high road, they might be considered vagrants.
+If one returned from a Federal camp to claim his wife and children,
+he might be driven away. "Freedom cried out," and undoubtedly some
+individuals did foolish things; but serious crime was noticeably absent.
+On the whole the race bore the blessing of emancipation with remarkable
+good sense and temper. Returning soldiers paraded, there were some
+meetings and processions, sometimes a little regalia--and even a little
+noise; then everybody went home. Unfortunately even so much the white
+South regarded as insolence.
+
+The example of how the South _might_ have met the situation was afforded
+by no less a man than Robert E. Lee, about whose unselfishness and
+standard of conduct as a gentleman there could be no question. One day
+in Richmond a Negro from the street, intent on asserting his rights,
+entered a representative church, pushed his way to the communion altar
+and knelt. The congregation paused, and all fully realized the factors
+that entered into the situation. Then General Lee rose and knelt beside
+the Negro; the congregation did likewise, and the tension was over.
+Furthermore, every one went home spiritually uplifted.
+
+Could the handling of this incident have been multipled a thousand
+times--could men have realized that mere accidents are fleeting but
+that principles are eternal--both races would have been spared years
+of agony, and our Southland would be a far different place to-day. The
+Negro was at the heart of the problem, but to that problem the South
+undoubtedly held the key. Of course the cry of "social equality" might
+have been raised; _anything_ might have been said to keep the right
+thing from being done. In this instance, as in many others, the final
+question was not what somebody else did, but how one himself could act
+most nobly.
+
+Unfortunately Lee's method of approach was not to prevail. Passion and
+prejudice and demagoguery were to have their day, and conservative and
+broadly patriotic men were to be made to follow leaders whom they could
+not possibly approve. Sixty years afterwards we still suffer from the
+KuKlux solution of the problem.
+
+
+2. _Meeting the Problem_
+
+The story of reconstruction has been many times told, and it is not
+our intention to tell that story again. We must content ourselves by
+touching upon some of the salient points in the discussion.
+
+Even before the close of the war the National Government had undertaken
+to handle officially the thousands of Negroes who had crowded to the
+Federal lines and not less than a million of whom were in the spring of
+1865 dependent upon the National Government for support. The Bureau of
+Refugee Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, created in connection with the
+War Department by an act of March 3, 1865, was to remain in existence
+throughout the war and for one year thereafter. Its powers were enlarged
+July 16, 1866, and its chief work did not end until January 1, 1869, its
+educational work continuing for a year and a half longer. The Freedmen's
+Bureau was to have "the supervision and management of all abandoned
+lands, and the control of all subjects relating to refugees and
+freedmen." Of special importance was the provision in the creating act
+that gave the freedmen to understand that each male refugee was to be
+given forty acres with the guarantee of possession for three years.
+Throughout the existence of the Bureau its chief commissioner was
+General O.O. Howard. While the principal officers were undoubtedly men
+of noble purpose, many of the minor officials were just as undoubtedly
+corrupt and self-seeking. In the winter of 1865-6 one-third of its aid
+was given to the white people of the South. For Negro pupils the Bureau
+established altogether 4,239 schools, and these had 9,307 teachers and
+247,333 students. Its real achievement has been thus ably summed up:
+"The greatest success of the Freedmen's Bureau lay in the planting of
+the free school among Negroes, and the idea of free elementary education
+among all classes in the South.... For some fifteen million dollars,
+beside the sum spent before 1865, and the dole of benevolent societies,
+this bureau set going a system of free labor, established a beginning of
+peasant proprietorship, secured the recognition of black freedmen before
+courts of law, and founded the free common school in the South. On the
+other hand, it failed to begin the establishment of good will between
+ex-masters and freedmen, to guard its work wholly from paternalistic
+methods, which discouraged self-reliance, and to carry out to any
+considerable extent its implied promises to furnish the freedmen with
+land."[1] To this tale of its shortcomings must be added also the
+management of the Freedmen's Bank, which "was morally and practically
+part of the Freedmen's Bureau, although it had no legal connection with
+it." This institution made a really remarkable start in the development
+of thrift among the Negroes, and its failure, involving the loss of the
+first savings of hundreds of ex-slaves, was as disastrous in its moral
+as in its immediate financial consequences.
+
+[Footnote 1: DuBois: _The Souls of Black Folk_, 32-37.]
+
+When the Freedmen's Bureau came to an end, it turned its educational
+interests and some money over to the religious and benevolent societies
+which had coöperated with it, especially to the American Missionary
+Association. This society had been organized before the Civil War on
+an interdenominational and strong anti-slavery basis; but with the
+withdrawal of general interest the body passed in 1881 into the hands of
+the Congregational Church. Other prominent agencies were the American
+Baptist Home Mission Society (also the American Baptist Publication
+Society), the Freedmen's Aid Society (representing the Northern
+Methodists), and the Presbyterian Board of Missions. Actual work was
+begun by the American Missionary Association. In 1861 Lewis Tappan,
+treasurer of the organization, wrote to General Butler to ask just
+what aid could be given. The result of the correspondence was that on
+September 3 of this year Rev. L.C. Lockwood reached Hampton and on
+September 17 opened the first day school among the freedmen. This school
+was taught by Mrs. Mary S. Peake, a woman of the race who had had the
+advantage of a free mother, and whose devotion to the work was such that
+she soon died. However, she had helped to lay the foundations of Hampton
+Institute. Soon there was a school at Norfolk, there were two at Newport
+News, and by January schools at Hilton Head and Beaufort, S.C. Then came
+the Emancipation Proclamation, throwing wide open the door of the great
+need. Rev. John Eaton, army chaplain from Ohio, afterwards United States
+Commissioner of Education, was placed in charge of the instruction of
+the Negroes, and in one way or another by the close of the war probably
+as many as one million in the South had learned to read and write. The
+83 missionaries and teachers of the Association in 1863 increased to 250
+in 1864. At the first day session of the school in Norfolk after the
+Proclamation there were 350 scholars, with 300 others in the evening.
+On the third day there were 550 in the day school and 500 others in the
+evening. The school had to be divided, a part going to another church;
+the assistants increased in number, and soon the day attendance was
+1,200. For such schools the houses on abandoned plantations were used,
+and even public buildings were called into commission. Afterwards arose
+the higher institutions, Atlanta, Berea, Fisk, Talladega, Straight, with
+numerous secondary schools. Similarly the Baptists founded the colleges
+which, with some changes of name, have become Virginia Union, Hartshorn,
+Shaw, Benedict, Morehouse, Spelman, Jackson, and Bishop, with numerous
+affiliated institutions. The Methodists began to operate Clark (in South
+Atlanta), Claflin, Rust, Wiley, and others; and the Presbyterians,
+having already founded Lincoln in 1854, now founded Biddle and several
+seminaries for young women; while the United Presbyterians founded
+Knoxville. In course of time the distinctively Negro denominations--the
+A.M.E., the A.M.E.Z., and the C.M.E. (which last represented a
+withdrawal from the Southern Methodists in 1870)--also helped in
+the work, and thus, in addition to Wilberforce in Ohio, arose such
+institutions as Morris Brown University, Livingstone College, and Lane
+College. In 1867, moreover, the Federal Government crowned its work for
+the education of the Negro by the establishment at Washington of Howard
+University.
+
+As these institutions have grown they have naturally developed some
+differences or special emphasis. Hampton and Atlanta University are
+now independent; and Berea has had a peculiar history, legislation in
+Kentucky in 1903 restricting the privileges of the institution to white
+students. Hampton, in the hands of General Armstrong, placed emphasis on
+the idea of industrial and practical education which has since become
+world-famous. In 1871 the Fisk Jubilee Singers began their memorable
+progress through America and Europe, meeting at first with scorn and
+sneers, but before long touching the heart of the world with their
+strange music. Their later success was as remarkable as their mission
+was unique. Meanwhile Spelman Seminary, in the record of her graduates
+who have gone as missionaries to Africa, has also developed a glorious
+tradition.
+
+To those heroic men and women who represented this idea of education at
+its best, too much credit can not be given. Cravath at Fisk, Ware at
+Atlanta, Armstrong at Hampton, Graves at Morehouse, Tupper at Shaw, and
+Packard and Giles at Spelman, are names that should ever be recalled
+with thanksgiving. These people had no enviable task. They were
+ostracized and persecuted, and some of their co-workers even killed. It
+is true that their idea of education founded on the New England college
+was not very elastic; but their theory was that the young men and women
+whom they taught, before they were Negroes, were human beings. They had
+the key to the eternal verities, and time will more and more justify
+their position.
+
+To the Freedmen's Bureau the South objected because of the political
+activity of some of its officials. To the schools founded by missionary
+endeavor it objected primarily on the score of social equality. To both
+the provisional Southern governments of 1865 replied with the so-called
+Black Codes. The theory of these remarkable ordinances--most harsh in
+Mississippi, South Carolina, and Louisiana--was that even if the Negro
+was nominally free he was by no means able to take care of himself and
+needed the tutelage and oversight of the white man. Hence developed what
+was to be known as a system of "apprenticeship." South Carolina in her
+act of December 21, 1865, said, "A child, over the age of two years,
+born of a colored parent, may be bound by the father if he be living in
+the district, or in case of his death or absence from the district, by
+the mother, as an apprentice to any respectable white or colored person
+who is competent to make a contract; a male until he shall attain the
+age of twenty-one years, and a female until she shall attain the age of
+eighteen.... Males of the age of twelve years, and females of the age
+of ten years, shall sign the indenture of apprenticeship, and be bound
+thereby.... The master shall receive to his own use the profits of the
+labor of his apprentice." To this Mississippi added: "If any apprentice
+shall leave the employment of his or her master or mistress, said master
+or mistress may pursue and recapture said apprentice, and bring him or
+her before any justice of peace of the county, whose duty it shall be to
+remand said apprentice to the service of his or her master or mistress;
+and in the event of a refusal on the part of said apprentice so to
+return, then said justice shall commit said apprentice to the jail of
+said county," etc., etc. In general by such legislation the Negro was
+given the right to sue and be sued, to testify in court concerning
+Negroes, and to have marriage and the responsibility for children
+recognized. On the other hand, he could not serve on juries, could
+not serve in the militia, and could not vote or hold office. He was
+virtually forbidden to assemble, and his freedom of movement was
+restricted. Within recent years the Black Codes have been more than once
+defended as an honest effort to meet a difficult situation, but the old
+slavery attitude peered through them and gave the impression that those
+who framed them did not yet know that the old order had passed away.
+
+Meanwhile the South was in a state of panic, and the provisional
+governor of Mississippi asked of President Johnson permission to
+organize the local militia. The request was granted and the patrols
+immediately began to show their hostility to Northern people and the
+freedmen. In the spring of 1866 there was a serious race riot in
+Memphis. On July 30, while some Negroes were marching to a political
+convention in New Orleans, they became engaged in brawls with the
+white spectators. Shots were exchanged; the police, assisted by the
+spectators, undertook to arrest the Negroes; the Negroes took refuge in
+the convention hall; and their pursuers stormed the building and shot
+down without mercy the Negroes and their white supporters. Altogether
+not less than forty were killed and not less than one hundred wounded;
+but not more than a dozen men were killed on the side of the police and
+the white citizens. General Sheridan, who was in command at New Orleans,
+characterized the affair as "an absolute massacre ... a murder which
+the mayor and police of the city perpetrated without the shadow of a
+necessity."
+
+In the face of such events and tendencies, and influenced to some extent
+by a careful and illuminating but much criticized report of Carl Schurz,
+Congress, led by Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens, proceeded to pass
+legislation designed to protect the freedmen and to guarantee to
+the country the fruits of the war. The Thirteenth Amendment to the
+Constitution formally abolishing slavery was passed December 18, 1865.
+In the following March Congress passed over the President's veto the
+first Civil Rights Bill, guaranteeing to the freedmen all the ordinary
+rights of citizenship, and it was about the same time that it enlarged
+the powers of the Freedmen's Bureau. The Fourteenth Amendment (July
+28, 1868) denied to the states the power to abridge the privileges or
+immunities of citizens of the United States; and the Fifteenth Amendment
+(March 30, 1870) sought to protect the Negro by giving to him the right
+of suffrage instead of military protection. In 1875 was passed the
+second Civil Rights act, designed to give Negroes equality of treatment
+in theaters, railway cars, hotels, etc.; but this the Supreme Court
+declared unconstitutional in 1883.
+
+As a result of this legislation the Negro was placed in positions of
+responsibility; within the next few years the race sent two senators
+and thirteen representatives to Congress, and in some of the state
+legislatures, as in South Carolina, Negroes were decidedly in the
+majority. The attainments of some of these men were undoubtedly
+remarkable; the two United States senators, Hiram R. Revels and Blanche
+K. Bruce, both from Mississippi, were of unquestioned intelligence and
+ability, and Robert B. Elliott, one of the representatives from South
+Carolina, attracted unusual attention by his speech in reply to
+Alexander Stephens on the constitutionality of the Civil Rights bill. At
+the same time among the Negro legislators there was also considerable
+ignorance, and there set in an era of extravagance and corruption from
+which the "carpet-baggers" and the "scalawags" rather than the Negroes
+themselves reaped the benefit. Accordingly within recent years it has
+become more and more the fashion to lament the ills of the period, and
+no representative American historian can now write of reconstruction
+without a tone of apology. A few points, however, are to be observed.
+In the first place the ignorance was by no means so vast as has been
+supposed. Within the four years from 1861 to 1865, thanks to the army
+schools and missionary agencies, not less than half a million Negroes in
+the South had learned to read and write. Furthermore, the suffrage was
+not immediately given to the emancipated Negroes; this was the
+last rather than the first step in reconstruction. The provisional
+legislatures formed at the close of the war were composed of white men
+only; but the experiment failed because of the short-sighted laws that
+were enacted. If the fruit of the Civil War was not to be lost, if all
+the sacrifice was not to prove in vain, it became necessary for Congress
+to see that the overthrow of slavery was final and complete. By the
+Fourteenth Amendment the Negro was invested with the ordinary rights and
+dignity of a citizen of the United States. He was not enfranchised, but
+he could no longer be made the victim of state laws designed merely to
+keep him in servile subjection. If the Southern states had accepted
+this amendment, they might undoubtedly have reëntered the Union without
+further conditions. They refused to do so; they refused to help the
+National Government in any way whatsoever in its effort to guarantee
+to the Negro the rights of manhood. Achilles sulked in his tent, and
+whenever he sulks the world moves on--without him. The alternative
+finally presented to Congress, if it was not to make an absolute
+surrender, was either to hold the South indefinitely under military
+subjection or to place the ballot in the hands of the Negro. The former
+course was impossible; the latter was chosen, and the Union was really
+restored--was really saved--by the force of the ballot in the hands of
+black men.
+
+It has been held that the Negro was primarily to blame for the
+corruption of the day. Here again it is well to recall the tendencies of
+the period. The decade succeeding the war was throughout the country
+one of unparalleled political corruption. The Tweed ring, the Crédit
+Mobilier, and the "salary grab" were only some of the more outstanding
+signs of the times. In the South the Negroes were not the real leaders
+in corruption; they simply followed the men who they supposed were their
+friends. Surely in the face of such facts as these it is not just to fix
+upon a people groping to the light the peculiar odium of the corruption
+that followed in the wake of the war.
+
+And we shall have to leave it to those better informed than we to say to
+just what extent city and state politics in the South have been cleaned
+up since the Negro ceased to be a factor. Many of the constitutions
+framed by the reconstruction governments were really excellent models,
+and the fact that they were overthrown seems to indicate that some other
+spoilsmen were abroad. Take North Carolina, for example. In this state
+in 1868 the reconstruction government by its new constitution introduced
+the township system so favorably known in the North and West. When in
+1875 the South regained control, with all the corruption it found as
+excellent a form of republican state government as was to be found in
+any state in the Union. "Every provision which any state enjoyed for the
+protection of public society from its bad members and bad impulses was
+either provided or easily procurable under the Constitution of the
+state."[1] Yet within a year, in order to annul the power of their
+opponents in every county in the state, the new party so amended
+the Constitution as to take away from every county the power of
+self-government and centralize everything in the legislature. Now was
+realized an extent of power over elections and election returns so
+great that no party could wholly clear itself of the idea of corrupt
+intentions.
+
+[Footnote 1: George W. Cable: _The Southern Struggle for Pure
+Government_: An Address. Boston, 1890, included in _The Negro Question_,
+New York, 1890.]
+
+At the heart of the whole question of course was race. As a matter of
+fact much work of genuine statesmanship was accomplished or attempted by
+the reconstruction governments. For one thing the idea of common school
+education for all people was now for the first time fully impressed upon
+the South. The Charleston _News and Courier_ of July 11, 1876, formally
+granted that in the administration of Governor Chamberlain of South
+Carolina the abuse of the pardoning power had been corrected; the
+character of the officers appointed by the Executive had improved; the
+floating indebtedness of the state had been provided for in such a way
+that the rejection of fraudulent claims was assured and that valid
+claims were scaled one-half; the tax laws had been so amended as to
+secure substantial equality in the assessment of property; taxes had
+been reduced to eleven mills on the dollar; the contingent fund of
+the executive department had been reduced at a saving in two years of
+$101,200; legislative expenses had also been reduced so as to save
+in two years $350,000; legislative contingent expenses had also been
+handled so as to save $355,000; and the public printing reduced from
+$300,000 to $50,000 a year. There were, undoubtedly, at first, many
+corrupt officials, white and black. Before they were through, however,
+after only a few years of experimenting, the reconstruction governments
+began to show signs of being quite able to handle the situation; and it
+seems to have been primarily the fear on the part of the white South
+_that they might not fail_ that prompted the determination to regain
+power at whatever cost. Just how this was done we are now to see.
+
+
+3. _Reaction: The KuKlux Klan_
+
+Even before the Civil War a secret organization, the Knights of the
+Golden Circle, had been formed to advance Southern interests. After the
+war there were various organizations--Men of Justice, Home Guards, Pale
+Faces, White Brotherhood, White Boys, Council of Safety, etc., and, with
+headquarters at New Orleans, the thoroughly organized Knights of the
+White Camelia. All of these had for their general aim the restoration
+of power to the white men of the South, which aim they endeavored to
+accomplish by regulating the conduct of the Negroes and their leaders
+in the Republican organization, the Union League, especially by playing
+upon the fears and superstitions of the Negroes. In general, especially
+in the Southeast, everything else was surpassed or superseded by the
+KuKlux Klan, which originated in Tennessee in the fall of 1865 as an
+association of young men for amusement, but which soon developed into a
+union for the purpose of whipping, banishing, terrorizing, and murdering
+Negroes and Northern white men who encouraged them in the exercise of
+their political rights. No Republican, no member of the Union League,
+and no G.A.R. man could become a member. The costume of the Klan
+was especially designed to strike terror in the uneducated Negroes.
+Loose-flowing sleeves, hoods in which were apertures for the eyes, nose,
+and mouth trimmed with red material, horns made of cotton-stuff standing
+out on the front and sides, high cardboard hats covered with white
+cloth decorated with stars or pictures of animals, long tongues of red
+flannel, were all used as occasion demanded. The KuKlux Klan finally
+extended over the whole South and greatly increased its operations on
+the cessation of martial law in 1870. As it worked generally at night,
+with its members in disguise, it was difficult for a grand jury to get
+evidence on which to frame a bill, and almost impossible to get a jury
+that would return a verdict for the state. Repeated measures against
+the order were of little effect until an act of 1870 extended the
+jurisdiction of the United States courts to all KuKlux cases. Even then
+for some time the organization continued active.
+
+Naturally there were serious clashes before government was restored to
+the white South, especially as the KuKlux Klan grew bolder. At Colfax,
+Grant Parish, Louisiana, in April, 1873, there was a pitched battle in
+which several white men and more than fifty Negroes were killed; and
+violence increased as the "red shirt" campaign of 1876 approached.
+
+In connection with the events of this fateful year, and with reference
+to South Carolina, where the Negro seemed most solidly in power, we
+recall one episode, that of the Hamburg Massacre. We desire to give this
+as fully as possible in all its incidents, because we know of nothing
+that better illustrates the temper of the times, and because a most
+important matter is regularly ignored or minimized by historians.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Fleming, in his latest and most mature account of
+reconstruction, _The Sequel of Appomattox_, has not one word to say
+about the matter. Dunning, in _Reconstruction Political and Economic_
+(306), speaks as follows: "July 6, 1876, an armed collision between
+whites and blacks at Hamburg, Aiken County, resulted in the usual
+slaughter of the blacks. Whether the original cause of the trouble
+was the insolence and threats of a Negro militia company, or the
+aggressiveness and violence of some young white men, was much discussed
+throughout the state, and, indeed, the country at large. Chamberlain
+took frankly and strongly the ground that the whites were at fault."
+Such a statement we believe simply does not do justice to the facts.
+The account given herewith is based upon the report of the matter in a
+letter published in a Washington paper and submitted in connection with
+the debate in the United States House of Representatives, July 15th and
+18th, 1876, on the Massacre of Six Colored Citizens at Hamburg, S.C.,
+July 4, 1876; and on "An Address to the People of the United States,
+adopted at a Conference of Colored Citizens, held at Columbia, S.C.,
+July 20th and 21st, 1876" (Republican Printing Co., Columbia, S.C.,
+1876). The Address, a document most important for the Negro's side of
+the story, was signed by no less than sixty representative men, among
+them R.B. Elliott, R.H. Gleaves, F.L. Cardozo, D.A. Straker, T. McC.
+Stewart, and H.N. Bouey.]
+
+In South Carolina an act providing for the enrollment of the male
+citizens of the state, who were by the terms of the said act made
+subject to the performance of militia duty, was passed by the General
+Assembly and approved by the Governor March 16, 1869. By virtue of this
+act Negro citizens were regularly enrolled as a part of the National
+Guard of the State of South Carolina, and as the white men, with very
+few exceptions, failed or refused to become a part of the said force,
+the active militia was composed almost wholly of Negro men. The County
+of Edgefield, of which Hamburg was a part, was one of the military
+districts of the state under the apportionment of the Adjutant-General,
+one regiment being allotted to the district. One company of this
+regiment was in Hamburg. In 1876 it had recently been reorganized with
+Doc Adams as captain, Lewis Cartledge as first lieutenant, and A.T.
+Attaway as second lieutenant. The ranks were recruited to the requisite
+number of men, to whom arms and equipment were duly issued.
+
+On Tuesday, July 4, the militia company assembled for drill and while
+thus engaged paraded through one of the least frequented streets of the
+town. This street was unusually wide, but while marching four abreast
+the men were interrupted by a horse and buggy driven _into their ranks_
+by Thomas Butler and Henry Getzen, white men who resided about two
+miles from the town. At the time of this interference the company was
+occupying a space covering a width of not more than eight feet, so that
+on either side there was abundant room for vehicles. At the interruption
+Captain Adams commanded a halt and, stepping to the head of his column,
+said, "Mr. Getzen, I did not think that you would treat me this way; I
+would not so act towards you." To this Getzen replied with curses,
+and after a few more remarks on either side, Adams, in order to avoid
+further trouble, commanded his men to break ranks and permit the buggy
+to pass through. The company was then marched to the drill rooms and
+dismissed.
+
+On Wednesday, July 5, Robert J. Butler, father of Thomas Butler and
+father-in-law of Getzen, appeared before P.R. Rivers, colored trial
+justice, and made complaint that the militia company had on the previous
+day obstructed one of the public streets of Hamburg and prevented his
+son and son-in-law from passing through. Rivers accordingly issued a
+summons for the officers to appear the next day, July 6. When Adams and
+his two lieutenants appeared on Thursday, they found present Robert J.
+Butler and several other white men heavily armed with revolvers. On the
+calling of the case it was announced that the defendants were present
+and that Henry Sparnick, a member of the circuit bar of the county, had
+been retained to represent them. Butler angrily protested against such
+representation and demanded that the hearing be postponed until he
+could procure counsel from the city of Augusta; whereupon Adams and his
+lieutenants, after consultation with their attorney, who informed them
+that there were no legal grounds on which the case could be decided
+against them, waived their constitutional right to be represented by
+counsel and consented to go to trial. On this basis the case was opened
+and proceeded with for some time, when on account of some disturbance
+its progress was arrested, and it was adjourned for further hearing on
+the following Saturday, July 8, at four o'clock in the afternoon.
+
+On Saturday, between two and three o'clock, General M.C. Butler, of
+Edgefield, formerly an officer in the Confederate army, arrived in
+Hamburg, and he was followed by mounted men in squads of ten or fifteen
+until the number was more than two hundred, the last to arrive being
+Colonel A.P. Butler at the head of threescore men. Immediately after his
+arrival General Butler sent for Attorney Sparnick, who was charged with
+the request to Rivers and the officers of the militia company to confer
+with him at once. There was more passing of messengers back and forth,
+and it was at length deemed best for the men to confer with Butler. To
+this two of the officers objected on the ground that the whole plan was
+nothing more than a plot for their assassination. They sent to ask if
+General Butler would meet them without the presence of his armed force.
+He replied Yes, but before arrangements could be made for the interview
+another messenger came to say that the hour for the trial had arrived,
+that General Butler was at the court, and that he requested the presence
+of the trial justice, Rivers. Rivers proceeded to court alone and found
+Butler there waiting for him. He was about to proceed with the case when
+Butler asked for more time, which request was granted. He went away and
+never returned to the court. Instead he went to the council chamber,
+being surrounded now by greater and greater numbers of armed men, and he
+sent a committee to the officers asking that they come to the council
+chamber to see him. The men again declined for the same reason as
+before. Butler now sent an ultimatum demanding that the officers
+apologize for what took place on July 4 and that they surrender to him
+their arms, threatening that if the surrender was not made at once he
+would take their guns and officers by force. Adams and his men now awoke
+to a full sense of their danger, and they asked Rivers, who was not only
+trial justice but also Major General of the division of the militia to
+which they belonged, if he demanded their arms of them. Rivers replied
+that he did not. Thereupon the officers refused the request of Butler on
+the ground that he had no legal right to demand their arms or to receive
+them if surrendered. At this point Butler let it be known that he
+demanded the surrender of the arms within half an hour and that if he
+did not receive them he would "lay the d---- town in ashes." Asked in an
+interview whether, if his terms were complied with, he would guarantee
+protection to the people of the town he answered that he did not know
+and that that would depend altogether upon how they behaved themselves.
+
+Butler now went with a companion to Augusta, returning in about thirty
+minutes. A committee called upon him as soon as he got back. He had only
+to say that he demanded the arms immediately. Asked if he would accept
+the boxing up of the arms and the sending of them to the Governor, he
+said, "D---- the Governor. I am not here to consult him, but am here as
+Colonel Butler, and this won't stop until after November." Asked again
+if he would guarantee general protection if the arms were surrendered,
+he said, "I guarantee nothing."
+
+All the while scores of mounted men were about the streets. Such members
+of the militia company as were in town and their friends to the number
+of thirty-eight repaired to their armory--a large brick building
+about two hundred yards from the river--and barricaded themselves for
+protection. Firing upon the armory was begun by the mounted men, and
+after half an hour there were occasional shots from within. After a
+while the men in the building heard an order to bring cannon from
+Augusta, and they began to leave the building from the rear, concealing
+themselves as well as they could in a cornfield. The cannon was brought
+and discharged three or four times, those firing it not knowing that the
+building had been evacuated. When they realized their mistake they made
+a general search through lots and yards for the members of the company
+and finally captured twenty-seven of them, after two had been killed.
+The men, none of whom now had arms, were marched to a place near the
+railroad station, where the sergeant of the company was ordered to call
+the roll. Allan T. Attaway, whose name was first, was called out
+and shot in cold blood. Twelve men fired upon him and he was killed
+instantly. The men whose names were second, third, and fourth on the
+list were called out and treated likewise. The fifth man made a dash for
+liberty and escaped with a slight wound in the leg. All the others were
+then required to hold up their right hands and swear that they would
+never bear arms against the white people or give in court any testimony
+whatsoever regarding the occurrence. They were then marched off two by
+two and dispersed, but stray shots were fired after them as they went
+away. In another portion of the town the chief of police, James Cook,
+was taken from his home and brutally murdered. A marshal of the town was
+shot through the body and mortally wounded. One of the men killed was
+found with his tongue cut out. The members of Butler's party finally
+entered the homes of most of the prominent Negroes in the town, smashed
+the furniture, tore books to pieces, and cut pictures from their frames,
+all amid the most heartrending distress on the part of the women and
+children. That night the town was desolate, for all who could do so fled
+to Aiken or Columbia.
+
+Upon all of which our only comment is that while such a process might
+seem for a time to give the white man power, it makes no progress
+whatever toward the ultimate solution of the problem.
+
+
+4. _Counter-Reaction: The Negro Exodus_
+
+The Negro Exodus of 1879 was partially considered in connection with our
+study of Liberia; but a few facts are in place here.
+
+After the withdrawal of Federal troops conditions in the South were
+changed so much that, especially in South Carolina, Mississippi,
+Louisiana, and Texas, the state of affairs was no longer tolerable.
+Between 1866 and 1879 more than three thousand Negroes were summarily
+killed.[1] The race began to feel that a new slavery in the horrible
+form of peonage was approaching, and that the disposition of the men in
+power was to reduce the laborer to the minimum of advantages as a free
+man and to none at all as a citizen. The fear, which soon developed into
+a panic, rose especially in consequence of the work of political mobs
+in 1874 and 1875, and it soon developed organization. About this the
+outstanding fact was that the political leaders of the last few years
+were regularly distrusted and ignored, the movement being secret in its
+origin and committed either to the plantation laborers themselves or
+their direct representatives. In North Carolina circulars about Nebraska
+were distributed. In Tennessee Benjamin ("Pap") Singleton began about
+1869 to induce Negroes to go to Kansas, and he really founded two
+colonies with a total of 7432 Negroes from his state, paying of his own
+money over $600 for circulars. In Louisiana alone 70,000 names were
+taken of those who wished to better their condition by removal; and by
+1878 98,000 persons in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas were
+ready to go elsewhere. A convention to consider the whole matter of
+migration was held in Nashville in 1879. At this the politician managed
+to put in an appearance and there was much wordy discussion. At the same
+time much of the difference of opinion was honest; the meeting was
+on the whole constructive; and it expressed itself as favorable to
+"reasonable migration." Already, however, thousands of Negroes were
+leaving their homes in the South and going in greatest numbers to
+Kansas, Missouri, and Indiana. Within twenty months Kansas alone
+received in this way an addition to her population of 40,000 persons.
+Many of these people arrived at their destination practically penniless
+and without prospect of immediate employment; but help was afforded by
+relief agencies in the North, and they themselves showed remarkable
+sturdiness in adapting themselves to the new conditions.
+
+[Footnote 1: Emmett J. Scott: Negro Migration during the War (in
+Preliminary Economic Studies of the War--Carnegie Endowment for
+International Peace: Division of Economics and History). Oxford
+University Press, American Branch, New York, 1920.]
+
+Many of the stories that the Negroes told were pathetic.[1] Sometimes
+boats would not take them on, and they suffered from long exposure on
+the river banks. Sometimes, while they were thus waiting, agents of
+their own people employed by the planters tried to induce them to
+remain. Frequently they were clubbed or whipped. Said one: "I saw nine
+put in one pile, that had been killed, and the colored people had to
+bury them; eight others were found killed in the woods.... It is done
+this way: they arrest them for breach of contract and carry them to
+jail. Their money is taken from them by the jailer and it is not
+returned when they are let go." Said another: "If a colored man stays
+away from the polls and does not vote, they spot him and make him vote.
+If he votes their way, they treat him no better in business. They hire
+the colored people to vote, and then take their pay away. I know a
+man to whom they gave a cow and a calf for voting their ticket. After
+election they came and told him that if he kept the cow he must pay for
+it; and they took the cow and calf away." Another: "One man shook his
+fist in my face and said, 'D---- you, sir, you are my property.' He said
+that I owed him. He could not show it and then said, 'You sha'n't go
+anyhow.' All we want is a living chance." Another: "There is a general
+talk among the whites and colored people that Jeff Davis will run for
+president of the Southern states, and the colored people are afraid they
+will be made slaves again. They are already trying to prevent them from
+going from one plantation to another without a pass." Another: "The
+deputy sheriff came and took away from me a pair of mules. He had a
+constable and twenty-five men with guns to back him." Another: "Last
+year, after settling with my landlord, my share was four bales of
+cotton. I shipped it to Richardson and May, 38 and 40 Perdido Street,
+New Orleans, through W.E. Ringo & Co., merchants, at Mound Landing,
+Miss. I lived four miles back of this landing. I received from Ringo a
+ticket showing that my cotton was sold at nine and three-eighths cents,
+but I could never get a settlement. He kept putting me off by saying
+that the bill of lading had not come. Those bales averaged over four
+hundred pounds. I did not owe him over twenty-five dollars. A man may
+work there from Monday morning to Saturday night, and be as economical
+as he pleases, and he will come out in debt. I am a close man, and I
+work hard. I want to be honest in getting through the world. I came away
+and left a crop of corn and cotton growing up. I left it because I did
+not want to work twelve months for nothing. I have been trying it for
+fifteen years, thinking every year that it would get better, and it gets
+worse." Said still another: "I learned about Kansas from the newspapers
+that I got hold of. They were Southern papers. I got a map, and found
+out where Kansas was; and I got a History of the United States, and read
+about it."
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Negro Exodus_ (Report of Colonel Frank H. Fletcher).]
+
+Query: Was it genuine statesmanship that permitted these people to feel
+that they must leave the South?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+5. _A Postscript on the War and Reconstruction_
+
+Of all of the stories of these epoch-making years we have chosen one--an
+idyl of a woman with an alabaster box, of one who had a clear conception
+of the human problem presented and who gave her life in the endeavor to
+meet it.
+
+In the fall of 1862 a young woman who was destined to be a great
+missionary entered the Seminary at Rockford, Illinois. There was little
+to distinguish her from the other students except that she was very
+plainly dressed and seemed forced to spend most of her spare time at
+work. Yes, there was one other difference. She was older than most of
+the girls--already thirty, and rich in experience. When not yet fifteen
+she had taught a country school in Pennsylvania. At twenty she was
+considered capable of managing an unusually turbulent crowd of boys and
+girls. When she was twenty-seven her father died, leaving upon her very
+largely the care of her mother. At twenty-eight she already looked back
+upon fourteen years as a teacher, upon some work for Christ incidentally
+accomplished, but also upon a fading youth of wasted hopes and
+unfulfilled desires.
+
+Then came a great decision--not the first, not the last, but one of the
+most important that marked her long career. Her education was by no
+means complete, and, at whatever cost, she would go to school. That she
+had no money, that her clothes were shabby, that her mother needed her,
+made no difference; now or never she would realize her ambition. She
+would do anything, however menial, if it was honest and would give her
+food while she continued her studies. For one long day she walked the
+streets of Belvidere looking for a home. Could any one use a young woman
+who wanted to work for her board? Always the same reply. Nightfall
+brought her to a farmhouse in the suburbs of the town. She timidly
+knocked on the door. "No, we do not need any one," said the woman who
+greeted her, "but wait until I see my husband." The man of the house
+was very unwilling, but decided to give shelter for the night. The
+next morning he thought differently about the matter, and a few days
+afterwards the young woman entered school. The work was hard; fires
+had to be made, breakfasts on cold mornings had to be prepared, and
+sometimes the washing was heavy. Naturally the time for lessons was
+frequently cut short or extended far into the night. But the woman of
+the house was kind, and her daughter a helpful fellow-student.
+
+The next summer came another season at school-teaching, and then the
+term at Rockford. 1862! a great year that in American history, one more
+famous for the defeat of the Union arms than for their success. But in
+September came Antietam, and the heart of the North took courage. Then
+with the new year came the Emancipation Proclamation.
+
+The girls at Rockford, like the people everywhere, were interested
+in the tremendous events that were shaking the nation. A new note of
+seriousness crept into their work. Embroidery was laid aside; instead,
+socks were knit and bandages prepared. On the night of January 1 a
+jubilee meeting was held in the town.
+
+To Joanna P. Moore, however, the news of freedom brought a strange
+undertone of sadness. She could not help thinking of the spiritual and
+intellectual condition of the millions now emancipated. Strange that she
+should be possessed by this problem! She had thought of work in China,
+or India, or even in Africa--but of this, never!
+
+In February a man who had been on Island No. 10 came to the Seminary and
+told the girls of the distress of the women and children there. Cabins
+and tents were everywhere. As many as three families, with eight or
+ten children each, cooked their food in the same pot on the same fire.
+Sometimes the women were peevish or quarrelsome; always the children
+were dirty. "What can a man do to help such a suffering mass of
+humanity?" asked the speaker. "Nothing. A woman is needed; nobody else
+will do." For the student listening so intently the cheery schoolrooms
+with their sweet associations faded; the vision of foreign missions also
+vanished; and in their stead stood only a pitiful black woman with a
+baby in her arms.
+
+She reached Island No. 10 in November. The outlook was dismal enough.
+The Sunday school at Belvidere had pledged four dollars a month toward
+her support, and this was all the money in sight, though the Government
+provided transportation and soldiers' rations. That was in 1863, sixty
+years ago; but every year since then, until 1916, in summer and winter,
+in sunshine and rain, in the home and the church, with teaching and
+praying, feeding and clothing, nursing and hoping and loving, Joanna P.
+Moore in one way or another ministered to the Negro people of the South.
+
+In April, 1864, her whole colony was removed to Helena, Arkansas. The
+Home Farm was three miles from Helena. Here was gathered a great crowd
+of women and children and helpless old men, all under the guard of a
+company of soldiers in a fort nearby. Thither went the missionary alone,
+except for her faith in God. She made an arbor with some rude seats,
+nailed a blackboard to a tree, divided the people into four groups,
+and began to teach school. In the twilight every evening a great crowd
+gathered around her cabin for prayers. A verse of the Bible was read and
+explained, petitions were offered, one of the sorrow-songs was chanted,
+and then the service was over.
+
+Some Quaker workers were her friends in Helena, and in 1868 she went to
+Lauderdale, Mississippi, to help the Friends in an orphan asylum. Six
+weeks after her arrival the superintendent's daughter died, and the
+parents left to take their child back to their Indiana home to rest. The
+lone woman was left in charge of the asylum. Cholera broke out. Eleven
+children died within one week. Still she stood by her post. Often, she
+said, those who were well and happy when they retired, ere daylight came
+were in the grave, for they were buried the same hour they died. Night
+after night she prayed to God in the dark, and at length the fury of the
+plague was abated.
+
+From time to time the failing health of her mother called her home, and
+from 1870 to 1873 she once more taught school near Belvidere. The first
+winter the school was in the country. "You can never have a Sunday
+school in the winter," they told her. But she did; in spite of the snow,
+the house was crowded every Sunday, whole families coming in sleighs.
+Even at that the real work of the teacher was with the Negroes of the
+South. In her prayers and public addresses they were always with her,
+and in 1873 friends in Chicago made it possible for her to return to the
+work of her choice. In 1877 the Woman's Baptist Home Mission Society
+honored itself by giving to her its first commission.
+
+Nine years she spent in the vicinity of New Orleans. Near Leland
+University she found a small, one-room house. After buying a bed, a
+table, two chairs, and a few cooking utensils, she began housekeeping.
+Often she started out at six in the morning, not to return until
+dark. Most frequently she read the Bible to those who could not read.
+Sometimes she gave cheer to mothers busy over the washtub. Sometimes
+she would teach the children to read or to sew. Often she would write
+letters for those who had been separated from friends or kindred in the
+dark days. She wrote hundreds and hundreds of such letters; and once in
+a while, a very long while, came a response.
+
+Most pitiful of all the objects she found in New Orleans were the old
+women worn out with years of slavery. They were usually rag-pickers who
+ate at night the scraps for which they had begged during the day. There
+was in the city an Old Ladies' Home; but this was not for Negroes.
+A house was secured and the women taken in, Joanna Moore and her
+associates moving into the second story. Sometimes, very often, there
+was real need; but sometimes, too, provisions came when it was not known
+who sent them; money or boxes came from Northern friends who had never
+seen the workers; and the little Negro children in the Sunday schools in
+the city gave their pennies.
+
+In 1878 the laborer in the Southwest started on a journey of
+exploration. In Atlanta Dr. Robert at Atlanta Baptist Seminary (now
+Morehouse College) gave her cheer; so did President Ware at Atlanta
+University. At Benedict in Columbia she saw Dr. Goodspeed, President
+Tupper at Shaw in Raleigh, and Dr. Corey in Richmond. In May she
+appeared at the Baptist anniversaries, with fifteen years of missionary
+achievement already behind her.
+
+But each year brought its own sorrows and disappointments. She wanted
+the Society to establish a training school for women; but to this
+objection was raised. In Louisiana also it was not without danger that a
+white woman attended a Negro association in 1877; and there were always
+sneers and jeers. At length, however, a training school for mothers was
+opened in Baton Rouge. All went well for two years; and then a notice
+with skull and crossbones was placed on the gate. The woman who had
+worked through the cholera still stood firm; but the students had gone.
+Sick at heart and worn out with waiting, she at last left Baton Rouge
+and the state in which so many of her best years had been spent.
+
+"Bible Band" work was started in 1884, and _Hope_ in 1885. The little
+paper, beginning with a circulation of five hundred, has now reached a
+monthly issue of twenty thousand copies, and daily it brings its
+lesson of cheer to thousands of mothers and children in the South. In
+connection with it all has developed the Fireside School, than which few
+agencies have been more potent in the salvation and uplift of the humble
+Negro home.
+
+What wisdom was gathered from the passing of fourscore years! On almost
+every page of her tracts, her letters, her account of her life, one
+finds quotations of proverbial pith:
+
+The love of God gave me courage for myself and the rest of mankind;
+therefore I concluded to invest in human souls. They surely are worth
+more than anything else in the world.
+
+Beloved friends, be hopeful, be courageous. God can not use discouraged
+people.
+
+The good news spread, not by telling what we were going to do but by
+praising God for what had been done.
+
+So much singing in all our churches leaves too little time for the Bible
+lesson. Do not misunderstand me. I do love music that impresses the
+meaning of words. But no one climbs to heaven on musical scales.
+
+I thoroughly believe that the only way to succeed with any vocation is
+to make it a part of your very self and weave it into your every thought
+and prayer.
+
+You must love before you can comfort and help.
+
+There is no place too lowly or dark for our feet to enter, and no place
+so high and bright but it needs the touch of the light that we carry
+from the Cross.
+
+How shall we measure such a life? Who can weigh love and hope and
+service, and the joy of answered prayer? "An annual report of what?" she
+once asked the secretary of her organization. "Report of tears shed,
+prayers offered, smiles scattered, lessons taught, steps taken, cheering
+words, warning words--tender, patient words for the little ones, stern
+but loving tones for the wayward--songs of hope and songs of sorrow,
+wounded hearts healed, light and love poured into dark sad homes? Oh,
+Miss Burdette, you might as well ask me to gather up the raindrops of
+last year or the petals that fall from the flowers that bloomed. It is
+true that I can send you a little stagnant water from the cistern, and a
+few dried flowers; but if you want to know the freshness, the sweetness,
+the glory, the grandeur, of our God-given work, then you must come
+and keep step with us from early morn to night for three hundred and
+sixty-five days in the year."
+
+Until the very last she was on the roll of the active workers of the
+Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society. In the fall of 1915 she
+decided that she must once more see the schools in the South that meant
+so much to her. In December she came again to her beloved Spelman. While
+in Atlanta she met with an accident that still further weakened her.
+After a few weeks, however, she went on to Jacksonville, and then to
+Selma. There she passed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels
+with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.... Then shall
+the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered,
+and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a
+stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we
+thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer
+and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it
+unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE NEGRO IN THE NEW SOUTH
+
+
+1. _Political Life: Disfranchisement_
+
+By 1876 the reconstruction governments had all but passed. A few days
+after his inauguration in 1877 President Hayes sent to Louisiana a
+commission to investigate the claims of rival governments there. The
+decision was in favor of the Democrats. On April 9 the President ordered
+the removal of Federal troops from public buildings in the South; and
+in Columbia, S.C., within a few days the Democratic administration of
+Governor Wade Hampton was formally recognized. The new governments at
+once set about the abrogation of the election laws that had protected
+the Negro in the exercise of suffrage, and, having by 1877 obtained
+a majority in the national House of Representatives, the Democrats
+resorted to the practice of attaching their repeal measures to
+appropriation bills in the hope of compelling the President to sign
+them. Men who had been prominently connected with the Confederacy were
+being returned to Congress in increasing numbers, but in general the
+Democrats were not able to carry their measures over the President's
+veto. From the Supreme Court, however, they received practical
+assistance, for while this body did not formally grant that the states
+had full powers over elections, it nevertheless nullified many of the
+most objectionable sections of the laws. Before the close of the decade,
+by intimidation, the theft, suppression or exchange of the ballot boxes,
+the removal of the polls to unknown places, false certifications, and
+illegal arrests on the day before an election, the Negro vote had been
+rendered ineffectual in every state of the South.
+
+When Cleveland was elected in 1884 the Negroes of the South naturally
+felt that the darkest hour of their political fortunes had come. It had,
+for among many other things this election said that after twenty years
+of discussion and tumult the Negro question was to be relegated to the
+rear, and that the country was now to give main attention to other
+problems. For the Negro the new era was signalized by one of the most
+effective speeches ever delivered in this or any other country, all
+the more forceful because the orator was a man of unusual nobility of
+spirit. In 1886 Henry W. Grady, of Georgia, addressed the New England
+Club in New York on "The New South." He spoke to practical men and he
+knew his ground. He asked his hearers to bring their "full faith in
+American fairness and frankness" to judgment upon what he had to say.
+He pictured in brilliant language the Confederate soldier, "ragged,
+half-starved, heavy-hearted, who wended his way homeward to find his
+house in ruins and his farm devastated." He also spoke kindly of the
+Negro: "Whenever he struck a blow for his own liberty he fought in open
+battle, and when at last he raised his black and humble hands that the
+shackles might be struck off, those hands were innocent of wrong against
+his helpless charges." But Grady also implied that the Negro had
+received too much attention and sympathy from the North. Said he: "To
+liberty and enfranchisement is as far as law can carry the Negro.
+The rest must be left to conscience and common sense." Hence on this
+occasion and others he asked that the South be left alone in the
+handling of her grave problem. The North, a little tired of the Negro
+question, a little uncertain also as to the wisdom of the reconstruction
+policy that it had forced on the South, and if concerned with this
+section at all, interested primarily in such investments as it had
+there, assented to this request; and in general the South now felt that
+it might order its political life in its own way.
+
+As yet, however, the Negro was not technically disfranchised, and at any
+moment a sudden turn of events might call him into prominence. Formal
+legislation really followed the rise of the Populist party, which
+about 1890 in many places in the South waged an even contest with the
+Democrats. It was evident that in such a struggle the Negro might still
+hold the balance of power, and within the next few years a fusion of the
+Republicans and the Populists in North Carolina sent a Negro, George H.
+White, to Congress. This event finally served only to strengthen the
+movement for disfranchisement which had already begun. In 1890 the
+constitution of Mississippi was so amended as to exclude from the
+suffrage any person who had not paid his poll-tax or who was unable to
+read any section of the constitution, or understand it when read to
+him, or to give a reasonable interpretation of it. The effect of the
+administration of this provision was that in 1890 only 8615 Negroes out
+of 147,000 of voting age became registered. South Carolina amended her
+constitution with similar effect in 1895. In this state the population
+was almost three-fifths Negro and two-fifths white. The franchise of
+the Negro was already in practical abeyance; but the problem now was
+to devise a means for the perpetuity of a government of white men.
+Education was not popular as a test, for by it many white illiterates
+would be disfranchised and in any case it would only postpone the race
+issue. For some years the dominant party had been engaged in factional
+controversies, with the populist wing led by Benjamin R. Tillman
+prevailing over the conservatives. It was understood, however, that each
+side would be given half of the membership of the convention, which
+would exclude all Negro and Republican representation, and that the
+constitution would go into effect without being submitted to the people.
+Said the most important provision: "Any person who shall apply for
+registration after January 1, 1898, if otherwise qualified, shall be
+registered; provided that he can both read and write any section of this
+constitution submitted to him by the registration officer or can show
+that he owns and has paid all taxes collectible during the previous
+year on property in this state assessed at three hundred dollars or
+more"--clauses which it is hardly necessary to say the registrars
+regularly interpreted in favor of white men and against the Negro. In
+1898 Louisiana passed an amendment inventing the so-called "grandfather
+clause." This excused from the operation of her disfranchising act all
+descendants of men who had voted before the Civil War, thus admitting
+to the suffrage all white men who were illiterate and without property.
+North Carolina in 1900, Virginia and Alabama in 1901, Georgia in 1907,
+and Oklahoma in 1910 in one way or another practically disfranchised the
+Negro, care being taken in every instance to avoid any definite clash
+with the Fifteenth Amendment. In Maryland there have been several
+attempts to disfranchise the Negro by constitutional amendments, one in
+1905, another in 1909, and still another in 1911, but all have failed.
+About the intention of its disfranchising legislation the South, as
+represented by more than one spokesman, was very frank. Unfortunately
+the new order called forth a group of leaders--represented by Tillman
+in South Carolina, Hoke Smith in Georgia, and James K. Vardaman in
+Mississippi--who made a direct appeal to prejudice and thus capitalized
+the racial feeling that already had been brought to too high tension.
+
+Naturally all such legislation as that suggested had ultimately to be
+brought before the highest tribunal in the country. The test came
+over the following section from the Oklahoma law: "No person shall be
+registered as an elector of this state or be allowed to vote in any
+election herein unless he shall be able to read and write any section
+of the Constitution of the State of Oklahoma; but no person who was on
+January 1, 1866, or at any time prior thereto, entitled to vote under
+any form of government, or who at any time resided in some foreign
+nation, and no lineal descendant of such person shall be denied the
+right to register and vote because of his inability to so read and
+write sections of such Constitution." This enactment the Supreme Court
+declared unconstitutional in 1915. The decision exerted no great and
+immediate effect on political conditions in the South; nevertheless as
+the official recognition by the nation of the fact that the Negro
+was not accorded his full political rights, it was destined to have
+far-reaching effect on the whole political fabric of the section.
+
+When the era of disfranchisement began it was in large measure expected
+by the South that with the practical elimination of the Negro from
+politics this section would become wider in its outlook and divide on
+national issues. Such has not proved to be the case. Except for the
+noteworthy deflection of Tennessee in the presidential election of 1920,
+and Republican gains in some counties in other states, this section
+remains just as "solid" as it was forty years ago, largely of course
+because the Negro, through education and the acquisition of property, is
+becoming more and more a potential factor in politics. Meanwhile it is
+to be observed that the Negro is not wholly without a vote, even in the
+South, and sometimes his power is used with telling effect, as in the
+city of Atlanta in the spring of 1919, when he decided in the negative
+the question of a bond issue. In the North moreover--especially in
+Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New York--he
+has on more than one occasion proved the deciding factor in political
+affairs. Even when not voting, however, he involuntarily wields
+tremendous influence on the destinies of the nation, for even though men
+may be disfranchised, all are nevertheless counted in the allotment of
+congressmen to Southern states. This anomalous situation means that in
+actual practice the vote of one white man in the South is four or six
+or even eight times as strong as that of a man in the North;[1] and it
+directly accounted for the victory of President Wilson and the Democrats
+over the Republicans led by Charles E. Hughes in 1916. For remedying
+it by the enforcement of the Fourteenth Amendment bills have been
+frequently presented in Congress, but on these no action has been taken.
+
+[Footnote 1: In 1914 Kansas and Mississippi each elected eight members
+of the House of Representatives, but Kansas cast 483,683 votes for
+her members, while Mississippi cast only 37,185 for hers, less than
+one-twelfth as many.]
+
+
+2. _Economic Life: Peonage_
+
+Within fifteen years after the close of the war it was clear that the
+Emancipation Proclamation was a blessing to the poor white man of the
+South as well as to the Negro. The break-up of the great plantation
+system was ultimately to prove good for all men whose slender means had
+given them little chance before the war. At the same time came also the
+development of cotton-mills throughout the South, in which as early as
+1880 not less than 16,000 white people were employed. With the decay of
+the old system the average acreage of holdings in the South Atlantic
+states decreased from 352.8 in 1860 to 108.4 in 1900. It was still
+not easy for an independent Negro to own land on his own account;
+nevertheless by as early a year as 1874 the Negro farmers had acquired
+338,769 acres. After the war the planters first tried the wage system
+for the Negroes. This was not satisfactory--from the planter's
+standpoint because the Negro had not yet developed stability as a
+laborer; from the Negro's standpoint because while the planter might
+advance rations, he frequently postponed the payment of wages and
+sometimes did not pay at all. Then land came to be rented; but
+frequently the rental was from 80 to 100 pounds of lint cotton an acre
+for land that produced only 200 to 400 pounds. In course of time
+the share system came to be most widely used. Under this the tenant
+frequently took his whole family into the cotton-field, and when the
+crop was gathered and he and the landlord rode together to the nearest
+town to sell it, he received one-third, one-half, or two-thirds of the
+money according as he had or had not furnished his own food, implements,
+and horses or mules. This system might have proved successful if he had
+not had to pay exorbitant prices for his rations. As it was, if
+the landlord did not directly furnish foodstuffs he might have an
+understanding with the keeper of the country store, who frequently
+charged for a commodity twice what it was worth in the open market. At
+the close of the summer there was regularly a huge bill waiting for the
+Negro at the store; this had to be disposed of first, _and he always
+came out just a few dollars behind_. However, the landlord did not mind
+such a small matter and in the joy of the harvest might even advance a
+few dollars; but the understanding was always that the tenant was to
+remain on the land the next year. Thus were the chains of peonage forged
+about him.
+
+At the same time there developed a still more vicious system.
+Immediately after the war legislation enacted in the South made severe
+provision with reference to vagrancy. Negroes were arrested on the
+slightest pretexts and their labor as that of convicts leased to
+landowners or other business men. When, a few years later, Negroes,
+dissatisfied with the returns from their labor on the farms, began a
+movement to the cities, there arose a tendency to make the vagrancy
+legislation still more harsh, so that at last a man could not stop work
+without technically committing a crime. Thus in all its hideousness
+developed the convict lease system.
+
+This institution and the accompanying chain-gang were at variance with
+all the humanitarian impulses of the nineteenth century. Sometimes
+prisoners were worked in remote parts of a state altogether away from
+the oversight of responsible officials; if they stayed in a prison the
+department for women was frequently in plain view and hearing of
+the male convicts, and the number of cubic feet in a cell was only
+one-fourth of what a scientific test would have required. Sometimes
+there was no place for the dressing of the dead except in the presence
+of the living. The system was worst when the lessee was given the entire
+charge of the custody and discipline of the convicts, and even of their
+medical or surgical care. Of real attention there frequently was none,
+and reports had numerous blank spaces to indicate deaths from unknown
+causes. The sturdiest man could hardly survive such conditions for more
+than ten years. In Alabama in 1880 only three of the convicts had been
+in confinement for eight years, and only one for nine. In Texas, from
+1875 to 1880, the total number of prisoners discharged was 1651, while
+the number of deaths and escapes for the same period totalled 1608. In
+North Carolina the mortality was eight times as great as in Sing Sing.
+
+At last the conscience of the nation began to be heard, and after 1883
+there were remedial measures. However, the care of the prisoner still
+left much to be desired; and as the Negro is greatly in the majority
+among prisoners in the South, and as he is still sometimes arrested
+illegally or on flimsy pretexts, the whole matter of judicial and penal
+procedure becomes one of the first points of consideration in any final
+settlement of the Negro Problem.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Within recent years it has been thought that the convict
+lease system and peonage had practically passed in the South. That this
+was by no means the case was shown by the astonishing revelations from
+Jasper County, Georgia, early in 1921, it being demonstrated in court
+that a white farmer, John S. Williams, who had "bought out" Negroes from
+the prisons of Atlanta and Macon, had not only held these people in
+peonage, but had been directly responsible for the killing of not less
+than eleven of them.
+
+However, as the present work passes through the press, word comes of the
+remarkable efforts of Governor Hugh M. Dorsey for a more enlightened
+public conscience in his state. In addition to special endeavor for
+justice in the Williams case, he has issued a booklet citing with detail
+one hundred and thirty-five cases in which Negroes have suffered grave
+wrong. He divides his cases into four divisions: (1) The Negro lynched,
+(2) The Negro held in peonage, (3) The Negro driven out by organized
+lawlessness, and (4) The Negro subject to individual acts of cruelty.
+"In some counties," he says, "the Negro is being driven out as though he
+were a wild beast. In others he is being held as a slave. In others no
+Negroes remain.... In only two of the 135 cases cited is crime against
+white women involved."
+
+For the more recent history of peonage see pp. 306, 329, 344, 360-363.]
+
+
+3. _Social Life: Proscription, Lynching_
+
+Meanwhile proscription went forward. Separate and inferior traveling
+accommodations, meager provision for the education of Negro children,
+inadequate street, lighting and water facilities in most cities and
+towns, and the general lack of protection of life and property, made
+living increasingly harder for a struggling people. For the Negro of
+aspiration or culture every day became a long train of indignities and
+insults. On street cars he was crowded into a few seats, generally in
+the rear; he entered a railway station by a side door; in a theater he
+might occupy only a side, or more commonly the extreme rear, of the
+second balcony; a house of ill fame might flourish next to his own
+little home; and from public libraries he was shut out altogether,
+except where a little branch was sometimes provided. Every opportunity
+for such self-improvement as a city might be expected to afford him was
+either denied him, or given on such terms as his self-respect forced him
+to refuse.
+
+Meanwhile--and worst of all--he failed to get justice in the courts.
+Formally called before the bar he knew beforehand that the case was
+probably already decided against him. A white boy might insult and pick
+a quarrel with his son, but if the case reached the court room the white
+boy would be freed and the Negro boy fined $25 or sent to jail for three
+months. Some trivial incident involving no moral responsibility whatever
+on the Negro's part might yet cost him his life.
+
+Lynching grew apace. Generally this was said to be for the protection
+of white womanhood; but statistics certainly did not give rape the
+prominence that it held in the popular mind. Any cause of controversy,
+however slight, that forced a Negro to defend himself against a white
+man might result in a lynching, and possibly in a burning. In the period
+of 1871-73 the number of Negroes lynched in the South is said to have
+been not more than 11 a year. Between 1885 and 1915, however, the number
+of persons lynched in the country amounted to 3500, the great majority
+being Negroes in the South. For the year 1892 alone the figure was 235.
+
+One fact was outstanding: astonishing progress was being made by the
+Negro people, but in the face of increasing education and culture on
+their part, there was no diminution of race feeling. Most Southerners
+preferred still to deal with a Negro of the old type rather than with
+one who was neatly dressed, simple and unaffected in manner, and
+ambitious to have a good home. In any case, however, it was clear that
+since the white man held the power, upon him rested primarily the
+responsibility of any adjustment. Old schemes for deportation or
+colonization in a separate state having proved ineffective or
+chimerical, it was necessary to find a new platform on which both races
+could stand. The Negro was still the outstanding factor in agriculture
+and industry; in large numbers he had to live, and will live, in Georgia
+and South Carolina, Mississippi and Texas; and there should have been
+some plane on which he could reside in the South not only serviceably
+but with justice to his self-respect. The wealth of the New South, it is
+to be remembered, was won not only by the labor of black hands but also
+that of little white boys and girls. As laborers and citizens, real or
+potential, both of these groups deserved the most earnest solicitude of
+the state, for it is not upon the riches of the few but the happiness of
+the many that a nation's greatness depends. Moreover no state can build
+permanently or surely by denying to a half or a third of those governed
+any voice whatever in the government. If the Negro was ignorant, he was
+also economically defenseless; and it is neither just nor wise to deny
+to any man, however humble, any real power for his legal protection. If
+these principles hold--and we think they are in line with enlightened
+conceptions of society--the prosperity of the New South was by no means
+as genuine as it appeared to be, and the disfranchisement of the Negro,
+morally and politically, was nothing less than a crime.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+"THE VALE OF TEARS," 1890-1910
+
+
+1. _Current Opinion and Tendencies_
+
+In the two decades that we are now to consider we find the working
+out of all the large forces mentioned in our last chapter. After a
+generation of striving the white South was once more thoroughly in
+control, and the new program well under way. Predictions for both a
+broader outlook for the section as a whole and greater care for the
+Negro's moral and intellectual advancement were destined not to be
+fulfilled; and the period became one of bitter social and economic
+antagonism.
+
+All of this was primarily due to the one great fallacy on which the
+prosperity of the New South was built, and that was that the labor of
+the Negro existed only for the good of the white man. To this one source
+may be traced most of the ills borne by both white man and Negro during
+the period. If the Negro's labor was to be exploited, it was necessary
+that he be without the protection of political power and that he be
+denied justice in court. If he was to be reduced to a peon, certainly
+socially he must be given a peon's place. Accordingly there developed
+everywhere--in schools, in places of public accommodation, in the
+facilities of city life--the idea of inferior service for Negroes;
+and an unenlightened prison system flourished in all its hideousness.
+Furthermore, as a result of the vicious economic system, arose the
+sinister form of the Negro criminal. Here again the South begged the
+question, representative writers lamenting the passing of the dear dead
+days of slavery, and pointing cynically to the effects of freedom on the
+Negro. They failed to remember in the case of the Negro criminal that
+from childhood to manhood--in education, in economic chance, in legal
+power--they had by their own system deprived a human being of every
+privilege that was due him, ruining him body and soul; and then they
+stood aghast at the thing their hands had made. More than that, they
+blamed the race itself for the character that now sometimes appeared,
+and called upon thrifty, aspiring Negroes to find the criminal and give
+him up to the law. Thrifty, aspiring Negroes wondered what was the
+business of the police.
+
+It was this pitiful failure to get down to fundamentals that
+characterized the period and that made life all the more hard for those
+Negroes who strove to advance. Every effort was made to brutalize a man,
+and then he was blamed for not being a St. Bernard. Fortunately before
+the period was over there arose not only clear-thinking men of the race
+but also a few white men who realized that such a social order could not
+last forever.
+
+Early in the nineties, however, the pendulum had swung fully backward,
+and the years from 1890 to 1895 were in some ways the darkest that the
+race has experienced since emancipation. When in 1892 Cleveland was
+elected for a second term and the Democrats were once more in power, it
+seemed to the Southern rural Negro that the conditions of slavery had
+all but come again. More and more the South formulated its creed; it
+glorified the old aristocracy that had flourished and departed, and
+definitely it began to ask the North if it had not been right after all.
+It followed of course that if the Old South had the real key to the
+problem, the proper place of the Negro was that of a slave.
+
+Within two or three years there were so many important articles on the
+Negro in prominent magazines and these were by such representative men
+that taken together they formed a symposium. In December, 1891, James
+Bryce wrote in the _North American Review_, pointing out that the
+situation in the South was a standing breach of the Constitution, that
+it suspended the growth of political parties and accustomed the section
+to fraudulent evasions, and he emphasized education as a possible
+remedy; he had quite made up his mind that the Negro had little or no
+place in politics. In January, 1892, a distinguished classical scholar,
+Basil L. Gildersleeve, turned aside from linguistics to write in the
+_Atlantic_ "The Creed of the Old South," which article he afterwards
+published as a special brochure, saying that it had been more widely
+read than anything else he had ever written. In April, Thomas Nelson
+Page in the _North American_ contended that in spite of the $5,000,000
+spent on the education of the Negro in Virginia between 1870 and 1890
+the race had retrograded or not greatly improved, and in fact that the
+Negro "did not possess the qualities to raise himself above slavery."
+Later in the same year he published _The Old South_. In the same month
+Frederick L. Hoffman, writing in the _Arena_, contended that in view of
+its mortality statistics the Negro race would soon die out.[1] Also in
+April, 1892, Henry Watterson wrote of the Negro in the _Chautauquan_,
+recalling the facts that the era of political turmoil had been succeeded
+by one of reaction and violence, and that by one of exhaustion and
+peace; but with all his insight he ventured no constructive suggestion,
+thinking it best for everybody "simply to be quiet for a time." Early in
+1893 John C. Wycliffe, a prominent lawyer of New Orleans, writing in
+the _Forum_, voiced the desires of many in asking for a repeal of the
+Fifteenth Amendment; and in October, Bishop Atticus G. Haygood, writing
+in the same periodical of a recent and notorious lynching, said, "It
+was horrible to torture the guilty wretch; the burning was an act of
+insanity. But had the dismembered form of his victim been the dishonored
+body of my baby, I might also have gone into an insanity that might have
+ended never." Again and again was there the lament that the Negroes of
+forty years after were both morally and intellectually inferior to
+their antebellum ancestors; and if college professors and lawyers and
+ministers of the Gospel wrote in this fashion one could not wonder that
+the politician made capital of choice propaganda.
+
+[Footnote 1: In 1896 this paper entered into an elaborate study, _Race
+Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro_, a publication of the
+American Economic Association. In this Hoffman contended at length that
+the race was not only not holding its own in population, but that it was
+also astonishingly criminal and was steadily losing economically. His
+work was critically studied and its fallacies exposed in the _Nation_,
+April 1, 1897.]
+
+In this chorus of dispraise truth struggled for a hearing, but then as
+now traveled more slowly than error. In the _North American_ for July,
+1892, Frederick Douglass wrote vigorously of "Lynch Law in the South."
+In the same month George W. Cable answered affirmatively and with
+emphasis the question, "Does the Negro pay for his education?" He showed
+that in Georgia in 1889-90 the colored schools did not really cost the
+white citizens a cent, and that in the other Southern states the Negro
+was also contributing his full share to the maintenance of the schools.
+In June of the same year William T. Harris, Commissioner of Education,
+wrote in truly statesmanlike fashion in the _Atlantic_ of "The Education
+of the Negro." Said he: "With the colored people all educated in schools
+and become a reading people interested in the daily newspaper; with all
+forms of industrial training accessible to them, and the opportunity so
+improved that every form of mechanical and manufacturing skill has its
+quota of colored working men and women; with a colored ministry educated
+in a Christian theology interpreted in a missionary spirit, and finding
+its auxiliaries in modern science and modern literature; with these
+educational essentials the Negro problem for the South will be solved
+without recourse to violent measures of any kind, whether migration,
+or disfranchisement, or ostracism." In December, 1893, Walter H. Page,
+writing in the _Forum_ of lynching under the title, "The Last Hold of
+the Southern Bully," said that "the great danger is not in the first
+violation of law, nor in the crime itself, but in the danger that
+Southern public sentiment under the stress of this phase of the race
+problem will lose the true perspective of civilization"; and L.E.
+Bleckley, Chief Justice of Georgia, spoke in similar vein. On the whole,
+however, the country, while occasionally indignant at some atrocity, had
+quite decided not to touch the Negro question for a while; and when in
+the spring of 1892 some representative Negroes protested without avail
+to President Harrison against the work of mobs, the _Review of Reviews_
+but voiced the drift of current opinion when it said: "As for the
+colored men themselves, their wisest course would be to cultivate the
+best possible relations with the most upright and intelligent of their
+white neighbors, and for some time to come to forget all about politics
+and to strive mightily for industrial and educational progress."[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: June, 1892, p. 526.]
+
+It is not strange that under the circumstances we have now to record
+such discrimination, crime, and mob violence as can hardly be paralleled
+in the whole of American history. The Negro was already down; he was now
+to be trampled upon. When in the spring of 1892 some members of the race
+in the lowlands of Mississippi lost all they had by the floods and the
+Federal Government was disposed to send relief, the state government
+protested against such action on the ground that it would keep the
+Negroes from accepting the terms offered by the white planters. In
+Louisiana in 1895 a Negro presiding elder reported to the _Southwestern
+Christian Advocate_ that he had lost a membership of a hundred souls,
+the people being compelled to leave their crops and move away within ten
+days.
+
+In 1891 the jail at Omaha was entered and a Negro taken out and hanged
+to a lamp-post. On February 27, 1892, at Jackson, La., where there was
+a pound party for the minister at the Negro Baptist church, a crowd of
+white men gathered, shooting revolvers and halting the Negroes as they
+passed. Most of the people were allowed to go on, but after a while the
+sport became furious and two men were fatally shot. About the same time,
+and in the same state, at Rayville, a Negro girl of fifteen was taken
+from a jail by a mob and hanged to a tree. In Texarkana, Ark., a Negro
+who had outraged a farmer's wife was captured and burned alive, the
+injured woman herself being compelled to light the fire. Just a few days
+later, in March, a constable in Memphis in attempting to arrest a Negro
+was killed. Numerous arrests followed, and at night a mob went to the
+jail, gained easy access, and, having seized three well-known Negroes
+who were thought to have been leaders in the killing, lynched them, the
+whole proceeding being such a flagrant violation of law that it has not
+yet been forgotten by the older Negro citizens of this important city.
+On February 1, 1893, at Paris, Texas, after one of the most brutal
+crimes occurred one of the most horrible lynchings on record. Henry
+Smith, the Negro, who seems to have harbored a resentment against a
+policeman of the town because of ill-treatment that he had received,
+seized the officer's three-year-old child, outraged her, and then tore
+her body to pieces. He was tortured by the child's father, her uncles,
+and her fifteen-year-old brother, his eyes being put out with hot irons
+before he was burned. His stepson, who had refused to tell where he
+could be found, was hanged and his body riddled with bullets. Thus the
+lynchings went on, the victims sometimes being guilty of the gravest
+crimes, but often also perfectly innocent people. In February, 1893, the
+average was very nearly one a day. At the same time injuries inflicted
+on the Negro were commonly disregarded altogether. Thus at Dickson,
+Tenn., a young white man lost forty dollars. A fortune-teller told him
+that the money had been taken by a woman and gave a description that
+seemed to fit a young colored woman who had worked in the home of a
+relative. Half a dozen men then went to the home of the young woman and
+outraged her, her mother, and also another woman who was in the house.
+At the very close of 1894, in Brooks County, Ga., after a Negro named
+Pike had killed a white man with whom he had a quarrel, seven Negroes
+were lynched after the real murderer had escaped. Any relative or other
+Negro who, questioned, refused to tell of the whereabouts of Pike,
+whether he knew of the same or not, was shot in his tracks, one man
+being shot before he had chance to say anything at all. Meanwhile the
+White Caps or "Regulators" took charge of the neighboring counties,
+terrifying the Negroes everywhere; and in the trials that resulted the
+state courts broke down altogether, one judge in despair giving up the
+holding of court as useless.
+
+Meanwhile discrimination of all sorts went forward. On May 29, 1895,
+moved by the situation at the Orange Park Academy, the state of Florida
+approved "An Act to Prohibit White and Colored Youth from being Taught
+in the same Schools." Said one section: "It shall be a penal offense
+for any individual body of inhabitants, corporation, or association to
+conduct within this State any school of any grade, public, private, or
+parochial, wherein white persons and Negroes shall be instructed or
+boarded within the same building, or taught in the same class or at the
+same time by the same teacher." Religious organizations were not to be
+left behind in such action; and when before the meeting of the Baptist
+Young People's Union in Baltimore a letter was sent to the secretary of
+the organization and the editor of the _Baptist Union_, in behalf of the
+Negroes, who the year before had not been well treated at Toronto, he
+sent back an evasive answer, saying that the policy of his society was
+to encourage local unions to affiliate with their own churches.
+
+More grave than anything else was the formal denial of the Negro's
+political rights. As we have seen, South Carolina in 1895 followed
+Mississippi in the disfranchising program and within the next fifteen
+years most of the other Southern states did likewise. With the Negro
+thus deprived of any genuine political voice, all sorts of social and
+economic injustice found greater license.
+
+2. _Industrial Education: Booker T. Washington_
+
+Such were the tendencies of life in the South as affecting the Negro
+thirty years after emancipation. In September, 1895, a rising educator
+of the race attracted national attention by a remarkable speech that
+he made at the Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta. Said Booker T.
+Washington: "To those of my race who depend on bettering their condition
+in a foreign land, or who underestimate the importance of cultivating
+friendly relations with the Southern white man who is their next door
+neighbor, I would say, 'Cast down your bucket where you are'--cast it
+down in making friends in every manly way of the people of all races by
+whom we are surrounded.... To those of the white race who look to the
+incoming of those of foreign birth and strange tongue and habits for the
+prosperity of the South, were I permitted I would repeat what I say to
+my own race, 'Cast down your bucket where you are.' Cast it down among
+8,000,000 Negroes whose habits you know, whose fidelity and love you
+have tested in days when to have proved treacherous meant the ruin of
+your fire-sides.... In all things that are purely social we can be as
+separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to
+mutual progress."
+
+The message that Dr. Washington thus enunciated he had already given in
+substance the previous spring in an address at Fisk University, and even
+before then his work at Tuskegee Institute had attracted attention.[1]
+The Atlanta Exposition simply gave him the great occasion that he
+needed; and he was now to proclaim the new word throughout the length
+and breadth of the land. Among the hundreds of addresses that he
+afterwards delivered, especially important were those at Harvard
+University in 1896, at the Chicago Peace Jubilee in 1898, and before the
+National Education Association in St. Louis in 1904. Again and again in
+these speeches one comes upon such striking sentences as the following:
+"Freedom can never be given. It must be purchased."[2] "The race, like
+the individual, that makes itself indispensable, has solved most of its
+problems."[3] "As a race there are two things we must learn to do--one
+is to put brains into the common occupations of life, and the other is
+to dignify common labor."[4] "Ignorant and inexperienced, it is not
+strange that in the first years of our new life we began at the
+top instead of at the bottom; that a seat in Congress or the State
+Legislature was worth more than real estate or industrial skill."[5]
+"The opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory just now is worth
+infinitely more than the opportunity to spend a dollar in an opera
+house."[6] "One of the most vital questions that touch our American life
+is how to bring the strong, wealthy, and learned into helpful contact
+with the poorest, most ignorant, and humblest, and at the same time
+make the one appreciate the vitalizing, strengthening influence of the
+other."[7] "There is no defense or security for any of us except in the
+highest intelligence and development of all."[8]
+
+[Footnote 1: See article by Albert Shaw, "Negro Progress on the Tuskegee
+Plan," in _Review of Reviews_, April, 1894.]
+
+[Footnote 2,3: Speech before N.E.A., in St. Louis, June 30, 1904.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Speech at Fisk University, 1805.]
+
+[Footnote 5,6,8: Speech at Atlanta Exposition, September 18, 1895.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Speech at Harvard University, June 24, 1896.]
+
+The time was ripe for a new leader. Frederick Douglass had died in
+February, 1895. In his later years he had more than once lost hold on
+the heart of his people, as when he opposed the Negro Exodus or seemed
+not fully in sympathy with the religious convictions of those who looked
+to him. At his passing, however, the race remembered only his early
+service and his old magnificence, and to a striving people his death
+seemed to make still darker the gathering gloom. Coming when he did,
+Booker T. Washington was thoroughly in line with the materialism of his
+age; he answered both an economic and an educational crisis. He also
+satisfied the South of the new day by what he had to say about social
+equality.
+
+The story of his work reads like a romance, and he himself has told it
+better than any one else ever can. He did not claim the credit for
+the original idea of industrial education; that he gave to General
+Armstrong, and it was at Hampton that he himself had been nurtured. What
+was needed, however, was for some one to take the Hampton idea down to
+the cotton belt, interpret the lesson for the men and women digging in
+the ground, and generally to put the race in line with the country's
+industrial development. This was what Booker T. Washington undertook to
+do.
+
+He reached Tuskegee early in June, 1881. July 4 was the date set for the
+opening of the school in the little shanty and church which had been
+secured for its accommodation. On the morning of this day thirty
+students reported for admission. The greater number were school-teachers
+and some were nearly forty years of age. Just about three months
+after the opening of the school there was offered for sale an old and
+abandoned plantation a mile from Tuskegee on which the mansion had been
+burned. All told the place seemed to be just the location needed to
+make the work effective and permanent. The price asked was five hundred
+dollars, the owner requiring the immediate payment of two hundred and
+fifty dollars, the remaining two hundred and fifty to be paid within a
+year. In his difficulty Mr. Washington wrote to General J.F.B. Marshall,
+treasurer of Hampton Institute, placing the matter before him and asking
+for the loan of two hundred and fifty dollars. General Marshall replied
+that he had no authority to lend money belonging to Hampton Institute,
+but that he would gladly advance the amount needed from his personal
+funds. Toward the paying of this sum the assisting teacher, Olivia A.
+Davidson (afterwards Mrs. Washington), helped heroically. Her first
+effort was made by holding festivals and suppers, but she also canvassed
+the families in the town of Tuskegee, and the white people as well as
+the Negroes helped her. "It was often pathetic," said the principal, "to
+note the gifts of the older colored people, many of whom had spent their
+best days in slavery. Sometimes they would give five cents, sometimes
+twenty-five cents. Sometimes the contribution was a quilt, or a quantity
+of sugarcane. I recall one old colored woman, who was about seventy
+years of age, who came to see me when we were raising money to pay for
+the farm. She hobbled into the room where I was, leaning on a cane. She
+was clad in rags, but they were clean. She said, 'Mr. Washington, God
+knows I spent de bes' days of my life in slavery. God knows I's ignorant
+an' poor; but I knows what you an' Miss Davidson is tryin' to do. I
+knows you is tryin' to make better men an' better women for de colored
+race. I ain't got no money, but I wants you to take dese six eggs,
+what I's been savin' up, an' I wants you to put dese six eggs into de
+eddication of dese boys an' gals.' Since the work at Tuskegee started,"
+added the speaker, "it has been my privilege to receive many gifts for
+the benefit of the institution, but never any, I think, that touched me
+as deeply as this one."
+
+It was early in the history of the school that Mr. Washington conceived
+the idea of extension work. The Tuskegee Conferences began in February,
+1892. To the first meeting came five hundred men, mainly farmers, and
+many woman. Outstanding was the discussion of the actual terms on which
+most of the men were living from year to year. A mortgage was given on
+the cotton crop before it was planted, and to the mortgage was attached
+a note which waived all right to exemptions under the constitution and
+laws of the state of Alabama or of any other state to which the tenant
+might move. Said one: "The mortgage ties you tighter than any rope and a
+waive note is a consuming fire." Said another: "The waive note is good
+for twenty years and when you sign one you must either pay out or die
+out." Another: "When you sign a waive note you just cross your hands
+behind you and go to the merchant and say, 'Here, tie me and take
+all I've got.'" All agreed that the people mortgaged more than was
+necessary, to buy sewing machines (which sometimes were not used),
+expensive clocks, great family Bibles, or other things easily dispensed
+with. Said one man: "My people want all they can get on credit, not
+thinking of the day of settlement. We must learn to bore with a small
+augur first. The black man totes a heavy bundle, and when he puts it
+down there is a plow, a hoe, and ignorance."
+
+It was to people such as these that Booker T. Washington brought hope,
+and serving them he passed on to fame. Within a few years schools on the
+plan of Tuskegee began to spring up all over the South, at Denmark, at
+Snow Hill, at Utica, and elsewhere. In 1900 the National Negro Business
+League began its sessions, giving great impetus to the establishment of
+banks, stores, and industrial enterprises throughout the country, and
+especially in the South. Much of this progress would certainly have been
+realized if the Business League had never been organized; but every one
+granted that in all the development the genius of the leader at
+Tuskegee was the chief force. About his greatness and his very definite
+contribution there could be no question.
+
+3. _Individual Achievement: The Spanish-American War_
+
+It happened that just at the time that Booker T. Washington was
+advancing to great distinction, three or four other individuals were
+reflecting special credit on the race. One of these was a young scholar,
+W.E. Burghardt DuBois, who after a college career at Fisk continued
+his studies at Harvard and Berlin and finally took the Ph.D. degree
+at Harvard in 1895. There had been sound scholars in the race before
+DuBois, but generally these had rested on attainment in the languages or
+mathematics, and most frequently they had expressed themselves in rather
+philosophical disquisition. Here, however, was a thorough student of
+economics, and one who was able to attack the problems of his people and
+meet opponents on the basis of modern science. He was destined to do
+great good, and the race was proud of him.
+
+In 1896 also an authentic young poet who had wrestled with poverty and
+doubt at last gained a hearing. After completing the course at a high
+school in Dayton, Paul Laurence Dunbar ran an elevator for four dollars
+a week, and then he peddled from door to door two little volumes of
+verse that had been privately printed. William Dean Howells at length
+gave him a helping hand, and Dodd, Mead & Co. published _Lyrics of Lowly
+Life_. Dunbar wrote both in classic English and in the dialect that
+voiced the humor and the pathos of the life of those for whom he spoke.
+What was not at the time especially observed was that in numerous poems
+he suggested the discontent with the age in which he lived and thus
+struck what later years were to prove an important keynote. After he had
+waited and struggled so long, his success was so great that it became a
+vogue, and imitators sprang up everywhere. He touched the heart of his
+people and the race loved him.
+
+By 1896 also word began to come of a Negro American painter, Henry O.
+Tanner, who was winning laurels in Paris. At the same time a beautiful
+singer, Mme. Sissieretta Jones, on the concert stage was giving new
+proof of the possibilities of the Negro as an artist in song. In the
+previous decade Mme. Marie Selika, a cultured vocalist of the first
+rank, had delighted audiences in both America and Europe, and in 1887
+had appeared Flora Batson, a ballad singer whose work at its best was of
+the sort that sends an audience into the wildest enthusiasm. In 1894,
+moreover, Harry T. Burleigh, competing against sixty candidates, became
+baritone soloist at St. Georges's Episcopal Church, New York, and just a
+few years later he was to be employed also at Temple Emanu-El, the Fifth
+Avenue Jewish synagogue. From abroad also came word of a brilliant
+musician, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, who by his "Hiawatha's Wedding-Feast"
+in 1898 leaped into the rank of the foremost living English composers.
+On the more popular stage appeared light musical comedy, intermediate
+between the old Negro minstrelsy and a genuine Negro drama, the
+representative companies becoming within the next few years those of
+Cole and Johnson, and Williams and Walker.
+
+Especially outstanding in the course of the decade, however, was the
+work of the Negro soldier in the Spanish-American War. There were at
+the time four regiments of colored regulars in the Army of the United
+States, the Twenty-fourth Infantry, the Twenty-fifth Infantry, the
+Ninth Cavalry, and the Tenth Cavalry. When the war broke out President
+McKinley sent to Congress a message recommending the enlistment of more
+regiments of Negroes. Congress failed to act; nevertheless colored
+troops enlisted in the volunteer service in Massachusetts, Indiana,
+Illinois, Kansas, Ohio, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The
+Eighth Illinois was officered throughout by Negroes, J.R. Marshall
+commanding; and Major Charles E. Young, a West Point graduate, was in
+charge of the Ohio battalion. The very first regiment ordered to the
+front when the war broke out was the Twenty-fourth Infantry; and Negro
+troops were conspicuous in the fighting around Santiago. They figured in
+a brilliant charge at Las Quasimas on June 24, and in an attack on July
+1 upon a garrison at El Caney (a position of importance for securing
+possession of a line of hills along the San Juan River, a mile and a
+half from Santiago) the First Volunteer Cavalry (Colonel Roosevelt's
+"Rough Riders") was practically saved from annihilation by the gallant
+work of the men of the Tenth Cavalry. Fully as patriotic, though in
+another way, was a deed of the Twenty-fourth Infantry. Learning that
+General Miles desired a regiment for the cleaning of a yellow
+fever hospital and the nursing of some victims of the disease, the
+Twenty-fourth volunteered its services and by one day's work so cleared
+away the rubbish and cleaned the camp that the number of cases was
+greatly reduced. Said the _Review of Reviews_ in editorial comment:[1]
+"One of the most gratifying incidents of the Spanish War has been the
+enthusiasm that the colored regiments of the regular army have
+aroused throughout the whole country. Their fighting at Santiago was
+magnificent. The Negro soldiers showed excellent discipline, the highest
+qualities of personal bravery, very superior physical endurance,
+unfailing good temper, and the most generous disposition toward all
+comrades in arms, whether white or black. Roosevelt's Rough Riders have
+come back singing the praises of the colored troops. There is not a
+dissenting voice in the chorus of praise.... Men who can fight for their
+country as did these colored troops ought to have their full share of
+gratitude and honor."
+
+[Footnote 1: October, 1898, p. 387.]
+
+
+4. _Mob Violence; Election Troubles; The Atlanta Massacre_
+
+After two or three years of comparative quiet--but only _comparative_
+quiet--mob violence burst forth about the turn of the century with
+redoubled intensity. In a large way this was simply a result of the
+campaigns for disfranchisement that in some of the Southern states were
+just now getting under way; but charges of assault and questions of
+labor also played a part. In some places people who were innocent of any
+charge whatever were attacked, and so many were killed that sometimes
+it seemed that the law had broken down altogether. Not the least
+interesting development of these troublous years was that in some cases
+as never before Negroes began to fight with their backs to the wall, and
+thus at the very close of the century--at the end of a bitter decade and
+the beginning of one still more bitter--a new factor entered into the
+problem, one that was destined more and more to demand consideration.
+
+On one Sunday toward the close of October, 1898, the country recorded
+two race wars, one lynching, two murders, one of which was expected to
+lead to a lynching, with a total of ten Negroes killed and four wounded
+and four white men killed and seven wounded. The most serious outbreak
+was in the state of Mississippi, and it is worthy of note that in not
+one single case was there any question of rape.
+
+November was made red by election troubles in both North and South
+Carolina. In the latter state, at Phoenix, in Greenwood County, on
+November 8 and for some days thereafter, the Tolberts, a well-known
+family of white Republicans, were attacked by mobs and barely escaped
+alive. R.R. Tolbert was a candidate for Congress and also chairman of
+the Republican state committee. John R. Tolbert, his father, collector
+of the port of Charleston, had come home to vote and was at one of the
+polling-places in the county. Thomas Tolbert at Phoenix was taking the
+affidavits of the Negroes who were not permitted to vote for his brother
+in order that later there might be ground on which to contest the
+election. While thus engaged he was attacked by Etheridge, the
+Democratic manager of another precinct. The Negroes came to Tolbert's
+defense, and in the fight that followed Etheridge was killed and Tolbert
+wounded. John Tolbert, coming up, was filled with buckshot, and a
+younger member of the family was also hurt. The Negroes were at length
+overpowered and the Tolberts forced to flee. All told it appears that
+two white men and about twelve Negroes lost their lives in connection
+with the trouble, six of the latter being lynched on account of the
+death of Etheridge.
+
+In North Carolina in 1894 the Republicans by combining with the
+Populists had secured control of the state legislature. In 1896 the
+Democrats were again outvoted, Governor Russell being elected by a
+plurality of 9000. A considerable number of local offices was in the
+hands of Negroes, who had the backing of the Governor, the legislature,
+and the Supreme Court as well. Before the November elections in 1898 the
+Democrats in Wilmington announced their determination to prevent Negroes
+from holding office in the city. Especially had they been made angry by
+an editorial in a local Negro paper, the _Record_, in which, under date
+August 18, the editor, Alex. L. Manly, starting with a reference to a
+speaker from Georgia, who at the Agricultural Society meeting at Tybee
+had advocated lynching as an extreme measure, said that she "lost sight
+of the basic principle of the religion of Christ in her plea for one
+class of people as against another," and continued: "The papers are
+filled with reports of rapes of white women, and the subsequent lynching
+of the alleged rapists. The editors pour forth volleys of aspersions
+against all Negroes because of the few who may be guilty. If the papers
+and speakers of the other race would condemn the commission of crime
+because it is crime and not try to make it appear that the Negroes
+were the only criminals, they would find their strongest allies in the
+intelligent Negroes themselves, and together the whites and blacks would
+root the evil out of both races.... Our experience among poor white
+people in the country teaches us that the women of that race are not any
+more particular in the matter of clandestine meetings with colored men
+than are the white men with colored women. Meetings of this kind go on
+for some time until the woman's infatuation or the man's boldness brings
+attention to them and the man is lynched for rape." In reply to this
+the speaker quoted in a signed statement said: "When the Negro Manly
+attributed the crime of rape to intimacy between Negro men and white
+women of the South, the slanderer should be made to fear a lyncher's
+rope rather than occupy a place in New York newspapers"--a method of
+argument that was unfortunately all too common in the South. As election
+day approached the Democrats sought generally to intimidate the Negroes,
+the streets and roads being patrolled by men wearing red shirts.
+Election day, however, passed without any disturbance; but on the next
+day there was a mass meeting of white citizens, at which there were
+adopted resolutions to employ white labor instead of Negro, to banish
+the editor of the _Record_, and to send away from the city the
+printing-press in the office of that paper; and a committee of
+twenty-five was appointed to see that these resolutions were carried
+into effect within twenty-four hours. In the course of the terrible
+day that followed the printing office was destroyed, several white
+Republicans were driven from the city, and nine Negroes were killed at
+once, though no one could say with accuracy just how many more lost
+their lives or were seriously wounded before the trouble was over.
+
+Charles W. Chesnutt, in _The Marrow of Tradition_, has given a faithful
+portrayal of these disgraceful events, the Wellington of the story being
+Wilmington. Perhaps the best commentary on those who thus sought power
+was afforded by their apologist, a Presbyterian minister and editor,
+A.J. McKelway, who on this occasion and others wrote articles in the
+_Independent_ and the _Outlook_ justifying the proceedings. Said he: "It
+is difficult to speak of the Red Shirts without a smile. They victimized
+the Negroes with a huge practical joke.... A dozen men would meet at a
+crossroad, on horseback, clad in red shirts or calico, flannel or silk,
+according to the taste of the owner and the enthusiasm of his womankind.
+They would gallop through the country, and the Negro would quietly make
+up his mind that his interest in political affairs was not a large one,
+anyhow. It would be wise not to vote, and wiser not to register to
+prevent being dragooned into voting on election day." It thus appears
+that the forcible seizure of the political rights of people, the killing
+and wounding of many, and the compelling of scores to leave their homes
+amount in the end to not more than a "practical joke."
+
+One part of the new program was the most intense opposition to Federal
+Negro appointees anywhere in the South. On the morning of February 22,
+1898, Frazer B. Baker, the colored postmaster at Lake City, S.C., awoke
+to find his house in flames. Attempting to escape, he and his baby boy
+were shot and killed and their bodies consumed in the burning house.
+His wife and the other children were wounded but escaped. The
+Postmaster-General was quite disposed to see that justice was done in
+this case; but the men charged with the crime gave the most trivial
+alibis, and on Saturday, April 22, 1899, the jury in the United States
+Circuit Court at Charleston reported its failure to agree on a verdict.
+Three years later the whole problem was presented strongly to President
+Roosevelt. When Mrs. Minne Cox, who was serving efficiently as
+postmistress at Indianola, Miss., was forced to resign because of
+threats, he closed the office; and when there was protest against
+the appointment of Dr. William D. Crum as collector of the port of
+Charleston, he said, "I do not intend to appoint any unfit man to
+office. So far as I legitimately can, I shall always endeavor to pay
+regard to the wishes and feelings of the people of each locality; but I
+can not consent to take the position that the door of hope--the door of
+opportunity--is to be shut upon any man, no matter how worthy, purely
+upon the grounds of race or color. Such an attitude would, according to
+my convictions, be fundamentally wrong." These memorable words, coming
+in a day of compromise and expediency in high places, greatly cheered
+the heart of the race. Just the year before, the importance of the
+incident of Booker T. Washington's taking lunch with President Roosevelt
+was rather unnecessarily magnified by the South into all sorts of
+discussion of social equality.
+
+On Tuesday, January 24, 1899, a fire in the center of the town of
+Palmetto, Ga., destroyed a hotel, two stores, and a storehouse, on which
+property there was little insurance. The next Saturday there was another
+fire and this destroyed a considerable part of the town. For some weeks
+there was no clue as to the origin of these fires; but about the middle
+of March something overheard by a white citizen led to the implicating
+of nine Negroes. These men were arrested and confined for the night of
+March 15 in a warehouse to await trial the next morning, a dummy guard
+of six men being placed before the door. About midnight a mob came,
+pushed open the door, and fired two volleys at the Negroes, killing four
+immediately and fatally wounding four more. The circumstances of this
+atrocious crime oppressed the Negro people of the state as few things
+had done since the Civil War. That it did no good was evident, for in
+its underlying psychology it was closely associated with a double crime
+that was now to be committed. In April, Sam Hose, a Negro who had
+brooded on the happenings at Palmetto, not many miles from the scene
+killed a farmer, Alfred Cranford, who had been a leader of the mob, and
+outraged his wife. For two weeks he was hunted like an animal, the white
+people of the state meanwhile being almost unnerved and the Negroes
+sickened by the pursuit. At last, however, he was found, and on Sunday,
+April 23, at Newnan, Ga., he was burned, his execution being accompanied
+by unspeakable mutilation; and on the same day Lige Strickland, a Negro
+preacher whom Hose had accused of complicity in his crime, was hanged
+near Palmetto. The nation stood aghast, for the recent events in Georgia
+had shaken the very foundations of American civilization. Said the
+_Charleston News and Courier_: "The chains which bound the citizen, Sam
+Hose, to the stake at Newnan mean more for us and for his race than the
+chains or bonds of slavery, which they supplanted. The flames that lit
+the scene of his torture shed their baleful light throughout every
+corner of our land, and exposed a state of things, actual and potential,
+among us that should rouse the dullest mind to a sharp sense of our true
+condition, and of our unchanged and unchangeable relations to the whole
+race whom the tortured wretch represented."
+
+Violence breeds violence, and two or three outstanding events are yet to
+be recorded. On August 23, 1899, at Darien, Ga., hundreds of Negroes,
+who for days had been aroused by rumors of a threatened lynching,
+assembled at the ringing of the bell of a church opposite the jail and
+by their presence prevented the removal of a prisoner. They were later
+tried for insurrection and twenty-one sent to the convict farms for a
+year. The general circumstances of the uprising excited great interest
+throughout the country. In May, 1900, in Augusta, Ga., an unfortunate
+street car incident resulted in the death of the aggressor, a young
+white man named Whitney, and in the lynching of the colored man, Wilson,
+who killed him. In this instance the victim was tortured and mutilated,
+parts of his body and of the rope by which he was hanged being passed
+around as souvenirs. A Negro organization at length recovered the body,
+and so great was the excitement at the funeral that the coffin was not
+allowed to be opened. Two months later, in New Orleans, there was a most
+extraordinary occurrence, the same being important because the leading
+figure was very frankly regarded by the Negroes as a hero and his fight
+in his own defense a sign that the men of the race would not always be
+shot down without some effort to protect themselves.
+
+One night in July, an hour before midnight, two Negroes Robert Charles
+and Leonard Pierce, who had recently come into the city from Mississippi
+and whose movements had interested the police, were found by three
+officers on the front steps of a house in Dryades Street. Being
+questioned they replied that they had been in the town two or three days
+and had secured work. In the course of the questioning the larger of
+the Negroes, Charles, rose to his feet; he was seized by one of the
+officers, Mora, who began to use his billet; and in the struggle that
+resulted Charles escaped and Mora was wounded in each hand and the hip.
+Charles now took refuge in a small house on Fourth Street, and when he
+was surrounded, with deadly aim he shot and instantly killed the first
+two officers who appeared.[1] The other men advancing, retreated and
+waited until daylight for reënforcement, and Charles himself withdrew to
+other quarters, and for some days his whereabouts were unknown. With the
+new day, however, the city was wild with excitement and thousands of men
+joined in the search, the newspapers all the while stirring the crowd
+to greater fury. Mobs rushed up and down the streets assaulting Negroes
+wherever they could be found, no effort to check them being made by the
+police. On the second night a crowd of nearly a thousand was addressed
+at the Lee Monument by a man from Kenner, a town a few miles above the
+city. Said he: "Gentlemen, I am from Kenner, and I have come down here
+to-night to assist you in teaching the blacks a lesson. I have killed a
+Negro before and in revenge of the wrong wrought upon you and yours I am
+willing to kill again. The only way you can teach these niggers a lesson
+and put them in their place is to go out and lynch a few of them as
+an object lesson. String up a few of them. That is the only thing to
+do--kill them, string them up, lynch them. I will lead you. On to the
+parish prison and lynch Pierce." The mob now rushed to the prison,
+stores and pawnshops being plundered on the way. Within the next few
+hours a Negro was taken from a street car on Canal Street, killed, and
+his body thrown into the gutter. An old man of seventy going to work in
+the morning was fatally shot. On Rousseau Street the mob fired into a
+little cabin; the inmates were asleep and an old woman was killed in
+bed. Another old woman who looked out from her home was beaten into
+insensibility. A man sitting at his door was shot, beaten, and left for
+dead. Such were the scenes that were enacted almost hourly from Monday
+until Friday evening. One night the excellent school building given by
+Thomy Lafon, a member of the race and a philanthropist, was burned.
+
+[Footnote 1: From this time forth the wildest rumors were afloat and
+the number of men that Charles had killed was greatly exaggerated. Some
+reports said scores or even hundreds, and it is quite possible that any
+figures given herewith are an understatement.]
+
+About three o'clock on Friday afternoon Charles was found to be in
+a two-story house at the corner of Saratoga and Clio Streets. Two
+officers, Porteus and Lally, entered a lower room. The first fell dead
+at the first shot, and the second was mortally wounded by the next. A
+third, Bloomfield, waiting with gun in hand, was wounded at the first
+shot and killed at the second. The crowd retreated, but bullets rained
+upon the house, Charles all the while keeping watch in every direction
+from four different windows. Every now and then he thrust his rifle
+through one of the shattered windowpanes and fired, working with
+incredible rapidity. He succeeded in killing two more of his assailants
+and wounding two. At last he realized that the house was on fire, and
+knowing that the end had come he rushed forth upon his foes, fired one
+shot more and fell dead. He had killed eight men and mortally wounded
+two or three more. His body was mutilated. In his room there was
+afterwards found a copy of a religious publication, and it was known
+that he had resented disfranchisement in Louisiana and had distributed
+pamphlets to further a colonization scheme. No incriminating evidence,
+however, was found.
+
+In the same memorable year, 1900, on the night of Wednesday, August
+15, there were serious riots in the city of New York. On the preceding
+Sunday a policeman named Thorpe in attempting to arrest a colored woman
+was stabbed by a Negro, Arthur Harris, so fatally that he died on
+Monday. On Wednesday evening Negroes were dragged from the street cars
+and beaten, and by midnight there were thousands of rioters between
+25th and 35th Streets. On the next night the trouble was resumed. These
+events were followed almost immediately by riots in Akron, Ohio. On the
+last Sunday in October, 1901, while some Negroes were holding their
+usual fall camp-meeting in a grove in Washington Parish, Louisiana, they
+were attacked, and a number of people, not less than ten and perhaps
+several more, were killed; and hundreds of men, women, and children felt
+forced to move away from the vicinity. In the first week of March, 1904,
+there was in Mississippi a lynching that exceeded even others of
+the period in its horror and that became notorious for its use of a
+corkscrew. A white planter of Doddsville was murdered, and a Negro,
+Luther Holbert, was charged with the crime. Holbert fled, and his
+innocent wife went with him. Further report we read in the Democratic
+_Evening Post_ of Vicksburg as follows: "When the two Negroes were
+captured, they were tied to trees, and while the funeral pyres were
+being prepared they were forced to suffer the most fiendish tortures.
+The blacks were forced to hold out their hands while one finger at a
+time was chopped off. The fingers were distributed as souvenirs. The
+ears of the murderers were cut off. Holbert was beaten severely, his
+skull was fractured, and one of his eyes, knocked out with a stick, hung
+by a shred from the socket.... The most excruciating form of punishment
+consisted in the use of a large corkscrew in the hands of some of the
+mob. This instrument was bored into the flesh of the man and the woman,
+in the arms, legs, and body, and then pulled out, the spirals tearing
+out big pieces of raw, quivering flesh every time it was withdrawn."
+In the summer of this same year Georgia was once more the scene of a
+horrible lynching, two Negroes, Paul Reed and Will Cato--because of the
+murder of the Hodges family six miles from the town on July 20--being
+burned at the stake at Statesville under unusually depressing
+circumstances. In August, 1908, there were in Springfield, Illinois,
+race riots of such a serious nature that a force of six thousand
+soldiers was required to quell them. These riots were significant
+not only because of the attitude of Northern laborers toward Negro
+competition, but also because of the indiscriminate killing of Negroes
+by people in the North, this indicating a genuine nationalization of the
+Negro Problem. The real climax of violence within the period, however,
+was the Atlanta Massacre of Saturday, September 22, 1906.
+
+Throughout the summer the heated campaign of Hoke Smith for
+the governorship capitalized the gathering sentiment for the
+disfranchisement of the Negro in the state and at length raised the race
+issue to such a high pitch that it leaped into flame. The feeling was
+intensified by the report of assaults and attempted assaults by Negroes,
+particularly as these were detailed and magnified or even invented by an
+evening paper, the _Atlanta News_, against which the Fulton County Grand
+Jury afterwards brought in an indictment as largely responsible for the
+riot, and which was forced to suspend publication when the business men
+of the city withdrew their support. Just how much foundation there was
+to the rumors may be seen from the following report of the investigator:
+"Three, charged to white men, attracted comparatively little attention
+in the newspapers, although one, the offense of a man named Turnadge,
+was shocking in its details. Of twelve such charges against Negroes in
+the six months preceding the riot, two were cases of rape, horrible in
+their details, three were aggravated attempts at rape, three may have
+been attempts, three were pure cases of fright on the part of white
+women, and in one the white woman, first asserting that a Negro had
+assaulted her, finally confessed attempted suicide."[1] On Friday,
+September 21, while a Negro was on trial, the father of the girl
+concerned asked the recorder for permission to deal with the Negro with
+his own hand, and an outbreak was barely averted in the open court.
+On Saturday evening, however, some elements in the city and from
+neighboring towns, heated by liquor and newspaper extras, became openly
+riotous and until midnight defied all law and authority. Negroes
+were assaulted wherever they appeared, for the most part being found
+unsuspecting, as in the case of those who happened to be going home from
+work and were on street cars passing through the heart of the city.
+In one barber shop two workers were beaten to death and their bodies
+mangled. A lame bootblack, innocent and industrious, was dragged from
+his work and kicked and beaten to death. Another young Negro was stabbed
+with jack-knives. Altogether very nearly a score of persons lost their
+lives and two or three times as many were injured. After some time
+Governor Terrell mobilized the militia, but the crowd did not take this
+move seriously, and the real feeling of the Mayor, who turned on the
+hose of the fire department, was shown by his statement that just so
+long as the Negroes committed certain crimes just so long would they be
+unceremoniously dealt with. Sunday dawned upon a city of astounded white
+people and outraged and sullen Negroes. Throughout Monday and Tuesday
+the tension continued, the Negroes endeavoring to defend themselves as
+well as they could. On Monday night the union of some citizens with
+policemen who were advancing in a suburb in which most of the homes were
+those of Negroes, resulted in the death of James Heard, an officer, and
+in the wounding of some of those who accompanied him. More Negroes were
+also killed, and a white woman to whose front porch two men were chased
+died of fright at seeing them shot to death. It was the disposition,
+however, on the part of the Negroes to make armed resistance that really
+put an end to the massacre. Now followed a procedure that is best
+described in the words of the prominent apologist for such outbreaks.
+Said A.J. McKelway: "Tuesday every house in the town (i.e., the suburb
+referred to above) was entered by the soldiers, and some two hundred
+and fifty Negroes temporarily held, while the search was proceeding and
+inquiries being made. They were all disarmed, and those with concealed
+weapons, or under suspicion of having been in the party firing on the
+police, were sent to jail."[2] It is thus evident that in this case, as
+in many others, the Negroes who had suffered most, not the white men who
+killed a score of them, were disarmed, and that for the time being their
+terrified women and children were left defenseless. McKelway also says
+in this general connection: "Any Southern man would protect an innocent
+Negro who appealed to him for help, with his own life if necessary."
+This sounds like chivalry, but it is really the survival of the old
+slavery attitude that begs the whole question. The Negro does not feel
+that he should ask any other man to protect him. He has quite made up
+his mind that he will defend his own home himself. He stands as a man
+before the bar, and the one thing he wants to know is if the law and the
+courts of America are able to give him justice--simple justice, nothing
+more.
+
+[Footnote 1: R.S. Baker: _Following the Colour Line_, 3.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Outlook_, November 3, 1906, p. 561.]
+
+
+5. _The Question of Labor_
+
+From time to time, in connection with cases of violence, we have
+referred to the matter of labor. Riots such as we have described are
+primarily social in character, the call of race invariably being the
+final appeal. The economic motive has accompanied this, however, and
+has been found to be of increasing importance. Says DuBois: "The fatal
+campaign in Georgia which culminated in the Atlanta Massacre was
+an attempt, fathered by conscienceless politicians, to arouse the
+prejudices of the rank and file of white laborers and farmers against
+the growing competition of black men, so that black men by law could be
+forced back to subserviency and serfdom."[1] The question was indeed
+constantly recurrent, but even by the end of the period policies had
+not yet been definitely decided upon, and for the time being there were
+frequent armed clashes between the Negro and the white laborer. Both
+capital and common sense were making it clear, however, that the
+Negro was undoubtedly a labor asset and would have to be given place
+accordingly.
+
+[Footnote 1: _The Negro in the South_, 115.]
+
+In March, 1895, there were bloody riots in New Orleans, these growing
+out of the fact that white laborers who were beginning to be organized
+objected to the employment Of Negro workers by the shipowners for the
+unloading of vessels. When the trouble was at its height volley after
+volley was poured upon the Negroes, and in turn two white men were
+killed and several wounded. The commercial bodies of the city met,
+blamed the Governor and the Mayor for the series of outbreaks, and
+demanded that the outrages cease. Said they: "Forbearance has ceased to
+be a virtue. We can no longer treat with men who, with arms in their
+hands, are shooting down an inoffensive people because they will not
+think and act with them. For these reasons we say to these people that,
+cost what it may, we are determined that the commerce of this city must
+and shall be protected; that every man who desires to perform honest
+labor must and shall be permitted to do so regardless of race, color, or
+previous condition." About August I of this same year, 1895, there were
+sharp conflicts between the white and the black miners at Birmingham,
+a number being killed on both sides before military authority could
+intervene. Three years later, moreover, the invasion of the North by
+Negro labor had begun, and about November 17, 1898, there was serious
+trouble in the mines at Pana and Virden, Illinois. In the same month
+the convention of railroad brotherhoods in Norfolk expressed strong
+hostility to Negro labor, Grand Master Frank P. Sargent of the
+Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen saying that one of the chief purposes
+of the meeting of the brotherhoods was "to begin a campaign in advocacy
+of white supremacy in the railway service." This November, it will be
+recalled, was the fateful month of the election riots in North and South
+Carolina. _The People_, the Socialist-Labor publication, commenting upon
+a Negro indignation meeting at Cooper Union and upon the problem in
+general, said that the Negro was essentially a wage-slave, that it was
+the capitalism of the North and not humanity that in the first place had
+demanded the freedom of the slave, that in the new day capital demanded
+the subjugation of the working class--Negro or otherwise; and it blamed
+the Negroes for not seeing the real issues at stake. It continued with
+emphasis: "It is not the _Negro_ that was massacred in the Carolinas;
+it was Carolina _workingmen_, Carolina _wage-slaves_ who happened to
+be colored men. Not as Negroes must the race rise;... it is as
+_workingmen_, as a branch of the _working class_, that the Negro must
+denounce the Carolina felonies. Only by touching that chord can he
+denounce to a purpose, because only then does he place himself upon that
+elevation that will enable him to perceive the source of the specific
+wrong complained of now." This point of view was destined more and more
+to stimulate those interested in the problem, whether they accepted
+it in its entirety or not. Another opinion, very different and also
+important, was that given in 1899 by the editor of _Dixie_, a magazine
+published in Atlanta and devoted to Southern industrial interests. Said
+he: "The manufacturing center of the United States will one day be
+located in the South; and this will come about, strange as it may seem,
+for the reason that the Negro is a fixture here.... Organized labor,
+as it exists to-day, is a menace to industry. The Negro stands as
+a permanent and positive barrier against labor organization in the
+South.... So the Negro, all unwittingly, is playing an important part in
+the drama of Southern industrial development. His good nature defies the
+Socialist." At the time this opinion seemed plausible, and yet the very
+next two decades were to raise the question if it was not founded on
+fallacious assumptions.
+
+The real climax of labor trouble as of mob violence within the period
+came in Georgia and in Atlanta, a city that now assumed outstanding
+importance as a battleground of the problems of the New South. In April,
+1909, it happened that ten white workers on the Georgia Railroad who had
+been placed on the "extra list" were replaced by Negroes at lower wages.
+Against this there was violent protest all along the route. A little
+more than a month later the white Firemen's Union started a strike that
+was intended to be the beginning of an effort to drive all Negro firemen
+from Southern roads, and it was soon apparent that the real contest was
+one occasioned by the progress in the South of organized labor on the
+one hand and the progress of the Negro in efficiency on the other. The
+essential motives that entered into the struggle were in fact the same
+as those that characterized the trouble in New Orleans in 1895. Said
+E.A. Ball, second vice-president of the Firemen's Union, in an address
+to the public: "It will be up to you to determine whether the white
+firemen now employed on the Georgia Railroad shall be accorded rights
+and privileges over the Negro, or whether he shall be placed on the same
+equality with the Negro. Also, it will be for you to determine whether
+or not white firemen, supporting families in and around Atlanta on a pay
+of $1.75 a day, shall be compelled to vacate their positions in Atlanta
+joint terminals for Negroes, who are willing to do the same work for
+$1.25." Some papers, like the Augusta _Herald_, said that it was a
+mistaken policy to give preference to Negroes when white men would
+ultimately have to be put in charge of trains and engines; but others,
+like the Baltimore _News_, said, "If the Negro can be driven from one
+skilled employment, he can be driven from another; but a country that
+tries to do it is flying in the face of every economic law, and must
+feel the evil effects of its policy if it could be carried out." At any
+rate feeling ran very high; for a whole week about June I there were
+very few trains between Atlanta and Augusta, and there were some acts of
+violence; but in the face of the capital at stake and the fundamental
+issues involved it was simply impossible for the railroad to give way.
+The matter was at length referred to a board of arbitration which
+decided that the Georgia Railroad was still to employ Negroes whenever
+they were found qualified and that they were to receive the same wages
+as white workers. Some thought that this decision would ultimately tell
+against the Negro, but such was not the immediate effect at least, and
+to all intents and purposes the white firemen had lost in the strike.
+The whole matter was in fact fundamentally one of the most pathetic that
+we have had to record. Humble white workers, desirous of improving the
+economic condition of themselves and their families, instead of assuming
+a statesmanlike and truly patriotic attitude toward their problem,
+turned aside into the wilderness of racial hatred and were lost.
+
+This review naturally prompts reflection as to the whole function of the
+Negro laborer in the South. In the first place, what is he worth, and
+especially what is he worth in honest Southern opinion? It was said
+after the Civil War that he would not work except under compulsion; just
+how had he come to be regarded in the industry of the New South? In 1894
+a number of large employers were asked about this point. 50 per cent
+said that in skilled labor they considered the Negro inferior to the
+white worker, 46 per cent said that he was fairly equal, and 4 per cent
+said that, all things considered, he was superior. As to common labor 54
+per cent said that he was equal, 29 per cent superior, and 17 per cent
+inferior to the white worker. At the time it appeared that wages
+paid Negroes averaged 80 per cent of those paid white men. A similar
+investigation by the Chattanooga _Tradesman_ in 1902 brought forth five
+hundred replies. These were summarized as follows: "We find the Negro
+more useful and skilled in the cotton-seed oil-mills, the lumber-mills,
+the foundries, brick kilns, mines, and blast-furnaces. He is superior
+to white labor and possibly superior to any other labor in these
+establishments, but not in the capacity of skillful and ingenious
+artisans." In this opinion, it is to be remembered, the Negro was
+subjected to a severe test in which nothing whatever was given to him,
+and at least it appears that in many lines of labor he is not less than
+indispensable to the progress of the South. The question then arises:
+Just what is the relation that he is finally to sustain to other
+workingmen? It would seem that white worker and black worker would long
+ago have realized their identity of interest and have come together. The
+unions, however, have been slow to admit Negroes and give them the same
+footing and backing as white men. Under the circumstances accordingly
+there remained nothing else for the Negro to do except to work wherever
+his services were desired and on the best terms that he was able to
+obtain.
+
+
+6. _Defamation: Brownsville_
+
+Crime demands justification, and it is not surprising that after such
+violence as that which we have described, and after several states had
+passed disfranchising acts, there appeared in the first years of the new
+century several publications especially defamatory of the race. Some
+books unfortunately descended to a coarseness in vilification such as
+had not been reached since the Civil War. From a Bible House in St.
+Louis in 1902 came _The Negro a Beast, or In the Image of God_, a book
+that was destined to have an enormous circulation among the white people
+of the poorer class in the South, and that of course promoted the
+mob spirit.[1] Contemporary and of the same general tenor were R.W.
+Shufeldt's _The Negro_ and W.B. Smith's _The Color Line_, while a member
+of the race itself, William Hannibal Thomas, published a book, _The
+American Negro_, that was without either faith or ideal and as a
+denunciation of the Negro in America unparalleled in its vindictiveness
+and exaggeration.[2]
+
+[Footnote 1: Its fundamental assumptions were ably refuted by Edward
+Atkinson in the _North American Review_, August, 1905.]
+
+[Footnote 2: It was reviewed in the _Dial_, April 16, 1901, by W.E.B.
+DuBois, who said in part: "Mr. Thomas's book is a sinister symptom--a
+growth and development under American conditions of life which
+illustrates peculiarly the anomalous position of black men, and the
+terrific stress under which they struggle. And the struggle and the
+fight of human beings against hard conditions of life always tends
+to develop the criminal or the hypocrite, the cynic or the radical.
+Wherever among a hard-pressed people these types begin to appear, it
+is a visible sign of a burden that is threatening to overtax their
+strength, and the foreshadowing of the age of revolt."]
+
+In January, 1904, the new governor of Mississippi, J.K. Vardaman, in his
+inaugural address went to the extreme of voicing the opinion of those
+who were now contending that the education of the Negro was only
+complicating the problem and intensifying its dangerous features. Said
+he of the Negro people: "As a race, they are deteriorating morally every
+day. Time has demonstrated that they are more criminal as freemen than
+as slaves; that they are increasing in criminality with frightful
+rapidity, being one-third more criminal in 1890 than in 1880." A
+few weeks later Bishop Brown of Arkansas in a widely quoted address
+contended that the Southern Negro was going backward both morally and
+intellectually and could never be expected to take a helpful part in the
+Government; and he also justified lynching. In the same year one of the
+more advanced thinkers of the South, Edgar Gardner Murphy, in _Problems
+of the Present South_ was not yet quite willing to receive the Negro on
+the basis of citizenship; and Thomas Nelson Page, who had belittled the
+Negro in such a collection of stories as _In Ole Virginia_ and in such a
+novel as _Red Rock_[1] formally stated his theories in _The Negro: The
+Southerner's Problem_. The worst, however--if there could be a worst in
+such an array--was yet to appear. In 1905 Thomas Dixon added to a series
+of high-keyed novels _The Clansman_, a glorification of the KuKlux Klan
+that gave a malignant portrayal of the Negro and that was of such a
+quality as to arouse the most intense prejudice and hatred. Within a
+few months the work was put on the stage and again and again it threw
+audiences into the wildest excitement. The production was to some
+extent held to blame for the Atlanta Massacre. In several cities it was
+proscribed. In Philadelphia on October 23, 1906, after the Negro
+people had made an unavailing protest, three thousand of them made a
+demonstration before the Walnut Street theater where the performance
+was given, while the conduct of some within the playhouse almost
+precipitated a riot; and in this city the play was suppressed the next
+day. Throughout the South, however, and sometimes elsewhere it continued
+to do its deadly work, and it was later to furnish the basis of "The
+Birth of a Nation," an elaborate motion picture of the same general
+tendency.
+
+[Footnote 1: For a general treatment of the matter of the Negro as dealt
+with in American Literature, especially fiction, note "The Negro in
+American Fiction," in the _Dial_, May 11, 1916, a paper included in
+_The Negro in Literature and Art_. The thesis there is that imaginative
+treatment of the Negro is still governed by outworn antebellum types,
+or that in the search for burlesque some types of young and uncultured
+Negroes of the present day are deliberately overdrawn, but that there is
+not an honest or a serious facing of the characters and the situations
+in the life of the Negro people in the United States to-day. Since the
+paper first appeared it has received much further point; witness the
+stories by E.K. Means and Octavius Roy Cohen.]
+
+Still another line of attack was now to attempt to deprive the Negro of
+any credit for initiative or for any independent achievement whatsoever.
+In May, 1903, Alfred H. Stone contributed to the _Atlantic_ a paper,
+"The Mulatto in the Negro Problem," which contended at the same time
+that whatever meritorious work the race had accomplished was due to the
+infusion of white blood and that it was the mulatto that was constantly
+poisoning the mind of the Negro with "radical teachings and destructive
+doctrines." These points found frequent iteration throughout the period,
+and years afterwards, in 1917, the first found formal statement in the
+_American Journal of Sociology_ in an article by Edward Byron Reuter,
+"The Superiority of the Mulatto," which the next year was elaborated
+into a volume, _The Mulatto in the United States_. To argue the
+superiority of the mulatto of course is simply to argue once more the
+inferiority of the Negro to the white man.
+
+All of this dispraise together presented a formidable case and one from
+which the race suffered immeasurably; nor was it entirely offset in the
+same years by the appearance even of DuBois's remarkable book, _The
+Souls of Black Folk_, or by the several uplift publications of Booker T.
+Washington. In passing we wish to refer to three points: (1) The effect
+of education on the Negro; (2) the matter of the Negro criminal (and of
+mortality), and (3) the quality and function of the mulatto.
+
+Education could certainly not be blamed for the difficulties of the
+problem in the new day until it had been properly tried. In no one of
+the Southern states within the period did the Negro child receive a fair
+chance. He was frequently subjected to inferior teaching, dilapidated
+accommodations, and short terms. In the representative city of Atlanta
+in 1903 the white school population numbered 14,465 and the colored
+8,118. The Negroes, however, while numbering 35 per cent of the whole,
+received but 12 per cent of the school funds. The average white teacher
+received $745 a year, and the Negro teacher $450. In the great reduction
+of the percentage of illiteracy in the race from 70 in 1880 to 30.4
+in 1910 the missionary colleges--those of the American Missionary
+Association, the American Baptist Home Mission Society, and the
+Freedmen's Aid Society--played a much larger part than they are
+ordinarily given credit for; and it is a very, very rare occurrence that
+a graduate of one of the institutions sustained by these agencies,
+or even one who has attended them for any length of time, has to be
+summoned before the courts. Their influence has most decidedly been on
+the side of law and order. Undoubtedly some of those who have gone forth
+from these schools have not been very practical, and some have not
+gained a very firm sense of relative values in life--it would be a
+miracle if all had; but as a group the young people who have attended
+the colleges have most abundantly justified the expenditures made in
+their behalf, expenditures for which their respective states were not
+responsible but of which they reaped the benefit. From one standpoint,
+however, the so-called higher education did most undoubtedly complicate
+the problem. Those critics of the race who felt that the only function
+of Negroes in life was that of hewers of wood and drawers of water quite
+fully realized that Negroes who had been to college did not care to work
+longer as field laborers. Some were to prove scientific students of
+agriculture, but as a group they were out of the class of peons. In this
+they were just like white people and all other people. No one who has
+once seen the light chooses to live always on the plane of the "man with
+the hoe." Nor need it be thought that these students are unduly crowding
+into professional pursuits. While, for instance, the number of Negro
+physicians and dentists has greatly increased within recent years, the
+number would still have to be four or five times as great to sustain
+to the total Negro population the same proportion as that borne by
+the whole number of white physicians and dentists to the total white
+population.
+
+The subjects of the criminality and the mortality of the race are in
+their ultimate reaches closely related, both being mainly due, as we
+have suggested, to the conditions under which Negroes have been forced
+to live. In the country districts, until 1900 at least, there was little
+provision for improvements in methods of cooking or in sanitation, while
+in cities the effects of inferior housing, poor and unlighted streets,
+and of the segregation of vice in Negro neighborhoods could not be
+otherwise than obvious. Thus it happened in such a year as 1898 that in
+Baltimore the Negro death rate was somewhat more and in Nashville just
+a little less than twice that of the white people. Legal procedure,
+moreover, emphasized a vicious circle; living conditions sent the
+Negroes to the courts in increasing numbers, and the courts sent them
+still farther down in the scale. There were undoubtedly some Negro
+thieves, some Negro murderers, and some Negroes who were incontinent;
+no race has yet appeared on the face of the earth that did not contain
+members having such propensities, and all such people should be dealt
+with justly by law. Our present contention is that throughout the period
+of which we are now speaking the dominant social system was not only
+such as to accentuate criminal elements but also such as even sought
+to discourage aspiring men. A few illustrations, drawn from widely
+different phases of life, must suffice. In the spring of 1903, and again
+in 1904, Jackson W. Giles, of Montgomery County, Alabama, contended
+before the Supreme Court of the United States that he and other Negroes
+in his county were wrongfully excluded from the franchise by the new
+Alabama constitution. Twice was his case thrown out on technicalities,
+the first time it was said because he was petitioning for the right to
+vote under a constitution whose validity he denied, and the second time
+because the Federal right that he claimed had not been passed on in the
+state court from whose decision he appealed. Thus the supreme tribunal
+in the United States evaded at the time any formal judgment as to the
+real validity of the new suffrage provisions. In 1903, moreover, in
+Alabama, Negroes charged with petty offenses and sometimes with no
+offense at all were still sent to convict farms or turned over to
+contractors. They were sometimes compelled to work as peons for a length
+of time; and they were flogged, starved, hunted with bloodhounds, and
+sold from one contractor to another in direct violation of law. One
+Joseph Patterson borrowed $1 on a Saturday, promising to pay the
+amount on the following Tuesday morning. He did not get to town at the
+appointed time, and he was arrested and carried before a justice of the
+peace, who found him guilty of obtaining money under false pretenses. No
+time whatever was given to the Negro to get witnesses or a lawyer, or to
+get money with which to pay his fine and the costs of court. He was sold
+for $25 to a man named Hardy, who worked him for a year and then sold
+him for $40 to another man named Pace. Patterson tried to escape, but
+was recaptured and given a sentence of six months more. He was then
+required to serve for an additional year to pay a doctor's bill. When
+the case at last attracted attention, it appeared that for $1 borrowed
+in 1903 he was not finally to be released before 1906. Another case of
+interest and importance was set in New York. In the spring of 1909
+a pullman porter was arrested on the charge of stealing a card-case
+containing $20. The next day he was discharged as innocent. He then
+entered against his accuser a suit for $10,000 damages. The jury awarded
+him $2,500, which amount the court reduced to $300, Justice P.H. Dugro
+saying that a Negro when falsely imprisoned did not suffer the same
+amount of injury that a white man would suffer--an opinion which the New
+York _Age_ very naturally characterized as "one of the basest and most
+offensive ever handed down by a New York judge."
+
+In the history of the question of the mulatto two facts are outstanding.
+One is that before the Civil War, as was very natural under the
+circumstances, mulattoes became free much faster than pure Negroes;
+thus the census of 1850 showed that 581 of every 1000 free Negroes
+were mulattoes and only 83 of every 1000 slaves. Since the Civil War,
+moreover, the mulatto element has rapidly increased, advancing from 11.2
+per cent of the Negro population in 1850 to 20.9 per cent in 1910, or
+from 126 to 264 per 1000. On the whole question of the function of this
+mixed element the elaborate study, that of Reuter, is immediately thrown
+out of court by its lack of accuracy. The fundamental facts on which
+it rests its case are not always true, and if premises are false
+conclusions are worthless. No work on the Negro that calls Toussaint
+L'Ouverture and Sojourner Truth mulattoes and that will not give the
+race credit for several well-known pure Negroes of the present day,
+can long command the attention of scholars. This whole argument on the
+mulatto goes back to the fallacy of degrading human beings by slavery
+for two hundred years and then arguing that they have not the capacity
+or the inclination to rise. In a country predominantly white the
+quadroon has frequently been given some advantage that his black friend
+did not have, from the time that one was a house-servant and the other a
+field-hand; but no scientific test has ever demonstrated that the black
+boy is intellectually inferior to the fair one. In America, however, it
+is the fashion to place upon the Negro any blame or deficiency and
+to claim for the white race any merit that an individual may show.
+Furthermore--and this is a point not often remarked in discussions of
+the problem--the element of genius that distinguishes the Negro artist
+of mixed blood is most frequently one characteristically Negro rather
+than Anglo-Saxon. Much has been made of the fact that within the society
+of the race itself there have been lines of cleavage, a comparatively
+few people, very fair in color, sometimes drawing off to themselves.
+This is a fact, and it is simply one more heritage from slavery, most
+tenacious in some conservative cities along the coast. Even there,
+however, old lines are vanishing and the fusion of different groups
+within the race rapidly going forward. Undoubtedly there has been some
+snobbery, as there always is, and a few quadroons and octoroons have
+crossed the color line and been lost to the race; but these cases are
+after all comparatively few in number, and the younger generation is
+more and more emphasizing the ideals of racial solidarity. In the future
+there may continue to be lines of cleavage in society within the race,
+but the standards governing these will primarily be character and merit.
+On the whole, then, the mulatto has placed himself squarely on the side
+of the difficulties, aspirations, and achievements of the Negro people
+and it is simply an accident and not inherent quality that accounts for
+the fact that he has been so prominent in the leadership of the race.
+
+The final refutation of defamation, however, is to be found in the
+actual achievement of members of the race themselves. The progress in
+spite of handicaps continued to be amazing. Said the New York _Sun_
+early in 1907 (copied by the _Times_) of "Negroes Who Have Made Good":
+"Junius C. Groves of Kansas produces 75,000 bushels of potatoes every
+year, the world's record. Alfred Smith received the blue ribbon at the
+World's Fair and first prize in England for his Oklahoma-raised cotton.
+Some of the thirty-five patented devices of Granville T. Woods, the
+electrician, form part of the systems of the New York elevated railways
+and the Bell Telephone Company. W. Sidney Pittman drew the design of
+the Collis P. Huntington memorial building, the largest and finest at
+Tuskegee. Daniel H. Williams, M.D., of Chicago, was the first surgeon to
+sew up and heal a wounded human heart. Mary Church Terrell addressed in
+three languages at Berlin recently the International Association for the
+Advancement of Women. Edward H. Morris won his suit between Cook County
+and the city of Chicago, and has a law practice worth $20,000 a year."
+
+In one department of effort, that of sport, the Negro was especially
+prominent. In pugilism, a diversion that has always been noteworthy for
+its popular appeal, Peter Jackson was well known as a contemporary of
+John L. Sullivan. George Dixon was, with the exception of one year,
+either bantamweight or featherweight champion for the whole of the
+period from 1890 to 1900; and Joe Gans was lightweight champion from
+1902 to 1908. Joe Walcott was welterweight champion from 1901 to 1904,
+and was succeeded by Dixie Kid, who held his place from 1904 to 1908. In
+1908, to the chagrin of thousands and with a victory that occasioned
+a score of racial conflicts throughout the South and West and that
+resulted in several deaths, Jack Johnson became the heavyweight champion
+of America, a position that he was destined to hold for seven years. In
+professional baseball the Negro was proscribed, though occasionally
+a member of the race played on teams of the second group. Of
+semi-professional teams the American Giants and the Leland Giants of
+Chicago, and the Lincoln Giants of New York, were popular favorites,
+and frequently numbered on their rolls players of the first order of
+ability. In intercollegiate baseball W.C. Matthews of Harvard was
+outstanding for several years about 1904. In intercollegiate football
+Lewis at Harvard in the earlier nineties and Bullock at Dartmouth a
+decade later were unusually prominent, while Marshall of Minnesota in
+1905 became an All-American end. Pollard of Brown, a half-back, in 1916,
+and Robeson of Rutgers, an end, in 1918, also won All-American honors.
+About the turn of the century Major Taylor was a champion bicycle rider,
+and John B. Taylor of Pennsylvania was an intercollegiate champion in
+track athletics. Similarly fifteen years later Binga Dismond of Howard
+and Chicago, Sol Butler of Dubuque, and Howard P. Drew of Southern
+California were destined to win national and even international honors
+in track work. Drew broke numerous records as a runner and Butler was
+the winner in the broad jump at the Inter-Allied Games in the Pershing
+Stadium in Paris. In 1920 E. Gourdin of Harvard came prominently forward
+as one of the best track athletes that institution had ever had.
+
+In the face, then, of the Negro's unquestionable physical ability and
+prowess the supreme criticism that he was called on to face within the
+period was all the more hard to bear. In all nations and in all ages
+courage under fire as a soldier has been regarded as the sterling test
+of manhood, and by this standard we have seen that in war the Negro had
+more than vindicated himself. His very honor as a soldier was now to be
+attacked.
+
+In August, 1906, Companies B, C, and D of the Twenty-fifth Regiment,
+United States Infantry, were stationed at Fort Brown, Brownsville,
+Texas, where they were forced to exercise very great self-restraint in
+the face of daily insults from the citizens. On the night of the 13th
+occurred a riot in which one citizen of the town was killed, another
+wounded, and the chief of police injured. The people of the town
+accused the soldiers of causing the riot and demanded their removal.
+Brigadier-General E.A. Garlington, Inspector General, was sent to find
+the guilty men, and, failing in his mission, he recommended dishonorable
+discharge for the regiment. On this recommendation President Roosevelt
+on November 9 dismissed "without honor" the entire battalion,
+disqualifying its members for service thereafter in either the military
+or the civil employ of the United States. When Congress met in December
+Senator J.B. Foraker of Ohio placed himself at the head of the critics
+of the President's action, and in a ringing speech said of the
+discharged men that "they asked no favors because they were Negroes, but
+only justice because they were men." On January 22 the Senate authorized
+a general investigation of the whole matter, a special message from
+the President on the 14th having revoked the civil disability of the
+discharged soldiers. The case was finally disposed of by a congressional
+act approved March 3, 1909, which appointed a court of inquiry before
+which any discharged man who wished to reënlist had the burden of
+establishing his innocence--a procedure which clearly violated the
+fundamental principle in law that a man is to be accounted innocent
+until he is proved guilty.
+
+In connection with the dishonored soldier of Brownsville, and indeed
+with reference to the Negro throughout the period, we recall Edwin
+Markham's poem, "Dreyfus,"[1] written for a far different occasion but
+with fundamental principles of justice that are eternal:
+
+[Footnote 1: It is here quoted with the permission of the author and
+in the form in which it originally appeared in _McClure's Magazine_,
+September, 1899.]
+
+  I
+
+  A man stood stained; France was one Alp of hate,
+  Pressing upon him with the whole world's weight;
+  In all the circle of the ancient sun
+  There was no voice to speak for him--not one;
+  In all the world of men there was no sound
+  But of a sword flung broken to the ground.
+
+  Hell laughed its little hour; and then behold
+  How one by one the guarded gates unfold!
+  Swiftly a sword by Unseen Forces hurled,
+  And now a man rising against the world!
+
+  II
+
+  Oh, import deep as life is, deep as time!
+  There is a Something sacred and sublime
+  Moving behind the worlds, beyond our ken,
+  Weighing the stars, weighing the deeds of men.
+
+  Take heart, O soul of sorrow, and be strong!
+  There is one greater than the whole world's wrong.
+  Be hushed before the high Benignant Power
+  That moves wool-shod through sepulcher and tower!
+  No truth so low but He will give it crown;
+  No wrong so high but He will hurl it down.
+  O men that forge the fetter, it is vain;
+  There is a Still Hand stronger than your chain.
+  'Tis no avail to bargain, sneer, and nod,
+  And shrug the shoulder for reply to God.
+
+
+7. The Dawn of a To-morrow
+
+The bitter period that we have been considering was not wholly without
+its bright features, and with the new century new voices began to be
+articulate. In May, 1900, there was in Montgomery a conference in
+which Southern men undertook as never before to make a study of their
+problems. That some who came had yet no real conception of the task and
+its difficulties may be seen from the suggestion of one man that the
+Negroes be deported to the West or to the islands of the sea. Several
+men advocated the repeal of the Fifteenth Amendment. The position
+outstanding for its statesmanship was that of ex-Governor William A.
+McCorkle of West Virginia, who asserted that the right of franchise was
+the vital and underlying principle of the life of the people of the
+United States and must not be violated, that the remedy for present
+conditions was an "honest and inflexible educational and property basis,
+administered fairly for black and white," and finally that the Negro
+Problem was not a local problem but one to be settled by the hearty
+coöperation of all of the people of the United States.
+
+Meanwhile the Southern Educational Congress continued its sittings from
+year to year, and about 1901 there developed new and great interest in
+education, the Southern Education Board acting in close coöperation with
+the General Education Board, the medium of the philanthropy of John D.
+Rockefeller, and frequently also with the Peabody and Slater funds.[1]
+In 1907 came the announcement of the Jeanes Fund, established by Anna T.
+Jeanes, a Quaker of Philadelphia, for the education of the Negro in the
+rural districts of the South; and in 1911 that of the Phelps-Stokes
+Fund, established by Caroline Phelps-Stokes with emphasis on the
+education of the Negro in Africa and America. More and more these
+agencies were to work in harmony and coöperation with the officials in
+the different states concerned. In 1900 J.L.M. Curry, a Southern man of
+great breadth of culture, was still in charge of the Peabody and Slater
+funds, but he was soon to pass from the scene and in the work now to
+be done were prominent Robert C. Ogden, Hollis B. Frissell, Wallace
+Buttrick, George Foster Peabody, and James H. Dillard.
+
+[Footnote 1: In 1867 George Peabody, an American merchant and patriot,
+established the Peabody Educational Fund for the purpose of promoting
+"intellectual, moral, and industrial education in the most destitute
+portion of the Southern states." The John F. Slater Fund was established
+in 1882 especially for the encouragement of the industrial education of
+Negroes.]
+
+Along with the mob violence, moreover, that disgraced the opening years
+of the century was an increasing number of officers who were disposed
+to do their duty even under trying circumstances. Less than two
+months after his notorious inaugural Governor Vardaman of Mississippi
+interested the reading public by ordering out a company of militia when
+a lynching was practically announced to take place, and by boarding a
+special train to the scene to save the Negro. In this same state
+in 1909, when the legislature passed a law levying a tax for the
+establishment of agricultural schools for white students, and levied
+this on the property of white people and Negroes alike, though only the
+white people were to have schools, a Jasper County Negro contested
+the matter before the Chancery Court, which declared the law
+unconstitutional, and he was further supported by the Supreme Court of
+the state. Such a decision was inspiring, but it was not the rule, and
+already the problems of another decade were being foreshadowed. Already
+also under the stress of conditions in the South many Negroes were
+seeking a haven in the North. By 1900 there were as many Negroes in
+Pennsylvania as in Missouri, whereas twenty years before there had been
+twice as many in the latter state. There were in Massachusetts more than
+in Delaware, whereas twenty years before Delaware had had 50 per cent
+more than Massachusetts. Within twenty years Virginia gained 312,000
+white people and only 29,000 Negroes, the latter having begun a steady
+movement to New York. North Carolina gained 400,000 white people and
+only 93,000 Negroes. South Carolina and Mississippi, however, were not
+yet affected in large measure by the movement.
+
+The race indeed was beginning to be possessed by a new consciousness.
+After 1895 Booker T. Washington was a very genuine leader. From the
+first, however, there was a distinct group of Negro men who honestly
+questioned the ultimate wisdom of the so-called Atlanta Compromise,
+and who felt that in seeming to be willing temporarily to accept
+proscription and to waive political rights Dr. Washington had given up
+too much. Sometimes also there was something in his illustrations of the
+effects of current methods of education that provoked reply. Those
+who were of the opposition, however, were not at first united and
+constructive, and in their utterances they sometimes offended by
+harshness of tone. Dr. Washington himself said of the extremists in this
+group that they frequently understood theories but not things; that in
+college they gave little thought to preparing for any definite task in
+the world, but started out with the idea of preparing themselves to
+solve the race problem; and that many of them made a business of keeping
+the troubles, wrongs, and hardships of the Negro race before the
+public.[1] There was ample ground for this criticism. More and more,
+however, the opposition gained force; the _Guardian_, a weekly paper
+edited in Boston by Monroe Trotter, was particularly outspoken, and in
+Boston the real climax came in 1903 in an endeavor to break up a meeting
+at which Dr. Washington was to speak. Then, beginning in January, 1904,
+the _Voice of the Negro_, a magazine published in Atlanta for three
+years, definitely helped toward the cultivation of racial ideals.
+Publication of the periodical became irregular after the Atlanta
+Massacre, and it finally expired in 1907. Some of the articles dealt
+with older and more philosophical themes, but there were also bright and
+illuminating studies in education and other social topics, as well as a
+strong stand on political issues. The _Colored American_, published in
+Boston just a few years before the _Voice_ began to appear, also did
+inspiring work. Various local or state organizations, moreover, from
+time to time showed the virtue of coöperation; thus the Georgia Equal
+Rights Convention, assembled in Macon in February, 1906, at the call of
+William J. White, the veteran editor of the _Georgia Baptist_, brought
+together representative men from all over the state and considered such
+topics as the unequal division of school taxes, the deprivation of the
+jury rights of Negroes, the peonage system, and the penal system. In
+1905 twenty-nine men of the race launched what was known as the Niagara
+Movement. The aims of this organization were freedom of speech and
+criticism, an unlettered and unsubsidized press, manhood suffrage, the
+abolition of all caste distinctions based simply on race and color, the
+recognition of the principle of human brotherhood as a practical present
+creed, the recognition of the highest and best training as the monopoly
+of no class or race, a belief in the dignity of labor, and united effort
+to realize these ideals under wise and courageous leadership. The time
+was not yet quite propitious, and the Niagara Movement as such died
+after three or four years. Its principles lived on, however, and it
+greatly helped toward the formation of a stronger and more permanent
+organization.
+
+[Footnote 1: See chapter "The Intellectuals," in _My Larger Education_.]
+
+In 1909 a number of people who were interested in the general effect
+of the Negro Problem on democracy in America organized in New York the
+National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.[1] It was
+felt that the situation had become so bad that the time had come for
+a simple declaration of human rights. In 1910 Moorfield Storey, a
+distinguished lawyer of Boston, became national president, and W.E.
+Burghardt DuBois director of publicity and research, and editor of the
+_Crisis_, which periodical began publication in November of this year.
+The organization was successful from the first, and local branches were
+formed all over the country, some years elapsing, however, before the
+South was penetrated. Said the Director: "Of two things we Negroes have
+dreamed for many years: An organization so effective and so powerful
+that when discrimination and injustice touched one Negro, it would touch
+12,000,000. We have not got this yet, but we have taken a great step
+toward it. We have dreamed, too, of an organization that would work
+ceaselessly to make Americans know that the so-called 'Negro problem' is
+simply one phase of the vaster problem of democracy in America, and that
+those who wish freedom and justice for their country must wish it for
+every black citizen. This is the great and insistent message of the
+National Association for the Advancement of Colored People."
+
+[Footnote 1: For detailed statement of origin see pamphlet, "How the
+National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Began," by
+Mary White Ovington, published by the Association.]
+
+This organization is outstanding as an effort in coöperation between
+the races for the improvement of the condition of the Negro. Of special
+interest along the line of economic betterment has been the National
+League on Urban Conditions among Negroes, now known as the National
+Urban League, which also has numerous branches with headquarters in New
+York and through whose offices thousands of Negroes have been placed
+in honorable employment. The National Urban League was also formally
+organized in 1910; it represented a merging of the different agencies
+working in New York City in behalf of the social betterment of the Negro
+population, especially of the National League for the Protection
+of Colored Women and of the Committee for Improving the Industrial
+Conditions among Negroes in New York, both of which agencies had been
+organized in 1906. As we shall see, the work of the League was to be
+greatly expanded within the next decade by the conditions brought about
+by the war; and under the direction of the executive secretary, Eugene
+Kinckle Jones, with the assistance of alert and patriotic officers, its
+work was to prove one of genuinely national service.
+
+Interesting also was a new concern on the part of the young Southern
+college man about the problems at his door. Within just a few years
+after the close of the period now considered, Phelps-Stokes fellowships
+for the study of problems relating to the Negro were founded at the
+Universities of Virginia and Georgia; it was expected that similar
+fellowships would be founded in other institutions; and there was
+interest in the annual meetings of the Southern Sociological Congress
+and the University Commission on Southern Race Questions.
+
+Thus from one direction and another at length broke upon a "vale of
+tears" a new day of effort and of hope. For the real contest the forces
+were gathering. The next decade was to be one of unending bitterness and
+violence, but also one in which the Negro was to rise as never before to
+the dignity of self-reliant and courageous manhood.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE NEGRO IN THE NEW AGE
+
+
+1. _Character of the Period_
+
+The decade 1910-1920, momentous in the history of the world, in the
+history of the Negro race in America must finally be regarded as the
+period of a great spiritual uprising against the proscription, the
+defamation, and the violence of the preceding twenty years. As never
+before the Negro began to realize that the ultimate burden of his
+salvation rested upon himself, and he learned to respect and to depend
+upon himself accordingly.
+
+The decade naturally divides into two parts, that before and that after
+the beginning of the Great War in Europe. Even in the earlier years,
+however, the tendencies that later were dominant were beginning to be
+manifest. The greater part of the ten years was consumed by the two
+administrations of President Woodrow Wilson; and not only did the
+National Government in the course of these administrations discriminate
+openly against persons of Negro descent in the Federal service and fail
+to protect those who happened to live in the capital, but its policy
+also gave encouragement to outrage in places technically said to be
+beyond its jurisdiction. A great war was to give new occasion and
+new opportunity for discrimination, defamatory propaganda was to be
+circulated on a scale undreamed of before, and the close of the war was
+to witness attempts for a new reign of terror in the South. Even beyond
+the bounds of continental America the race was now to suffer by reason
+of the national policy, and the little republic of Hayti to lift its
+bleeding hands to the calm judgment of the world.
+
+Both a cause and a result of the struggle through which the race was now
+to pass was its astonishing progress. The fiftieth anniversary of the
+Emancipation Proclamation--January 1, 1913--called to mind as did
+nothing else the proscription and the mistakes, but also the successes
+and the hopes of the Negro people in America. Throughout the South
+disfranchisement seemed almost complete; and yet, after many attempts,
+the movement finally failed in Maryland in 1911 and in Arkansas in 1912.
+In 1915, moreover, the disfranchising act of Oklahoma was declared
+unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court, and henceforth the
+Negro could feel that the highest legal authority was no longer on the
+side of those who sought to deprive him of all political voice. Eleven
+years before, the Court had taken refuge in technicalities. The year
+1911 was also marked by the appointment of the first Negro policeman in
+New York, by the election of the first Negro legislator in Pennsylvania,
+and by the appointment of a man of the race, William H. Lewis, as
+Assistant Attorney General of the United States; and several civil
+rights suits were won in Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. Banks,
+insurance companies, and commercial and industrial enterprises were
+constantly being capitalized; churches erected more and more stately
+edifices; and fraternal organizations constantly increased in membership
+and wealth. By 1913 the Odd Fellows numbered very nearly half a million
+members and owned property worth two and a half million dollars; in
+1920 the Dunbar Amusement Corporation of Philadelphia erected a theater
+costing $400,000; and the foremost business woman of the race in the
+decade, Mme. C.J. Walker, on the simple business of toilet articles and
+hair preparations built up an enterprise of national scope and conducted
+in accordance with the principles regularly governing great American
+commercial organizations. Fifty years after emancipation, moreover, very
+nearly one-fourth of all the Negroes in the Southern states were living
+in homes that they themselves owned; thus 430,449 of 1,917,391 houses
+occupied in these states were reported in 1910 as owned, and 314,340
+were free of all encumbrance. The percentage of illiteracy decreased
+from 70 in 1880 to 30.4 in 1910, and movements were under way for the
+still more rapid spread of elementary knowledge. Excellent high schools,
+such as those in St. Louis, Washington, Kansas City (both cities of this
+name), Louisville, Baltimore, and other cities and towns in the border
+states and sometimes as far away as Texas, were setting a standard such
+as was in accord with the best in the country; and in one year, 1917,
+455 young people of the race received the degree of bachelor of arts,
+while throughout the decade different ones received honors and took the
+highest graduate degrees at the foremost institutions of learning in the
+country. Early in the decade the General Education Board began actively
+to assist in the work of the higher educational institutions, and an
+outstanding gift was that of half a million dollars to Fisk University
+in 1920. Meanwhile, through the National Urban League and hundreds of
+local clubs and welfare organizations, social betterment went forward,
+much impetus being given to the work by the National Association of
+Colored Women's Clubs organized in 1896.
+
+Along with its progress, throughout the decade the race had to meet
+increasing bitterness and opposition, and this was intensified by the
+motion picture, "The Birth of a Nation," built on lines similar to those
+of _The Clansman_. Negro men standing high on civil service lists were
+sometimes set aside; in 1913 the white railway mail clerks of the
+South began an open campaign against Negroes in the service in direct
+violation of the rules; and a little later in the same year segregation
+in the different departments became notorious. In 1911 the American Bar
+Association raised the question of the color-line; and efforts for the
+restriction of Negroes to certain neighborhoods in different prominent
+cities sometimes resulted in violence, as in the dynamiting of the homes
+of Negroes in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1911. When the Progressive party
+was organized in 1912 the Negro was given to understand that his support
+was not sought, and in 1911 a strike of firemen on the Queen and
+Crescent Railroad was in its main outlines similar to the trouble on
+the Georgia Railroad two years before. Meanwhile in the South the race
+received only 18 per cent of the total expenditures for education,
+although it constituted more than 30 per cent of the population.
+
+Worse than anything else, however, was the matter of lynching. In each
+year the total number of victims of illegal execution continued to
+number three- or fourscore; but no one could ever be sure that every
+instance had been recorded. Between the opening of the decade and the
+time of the entrance of the United States into the war, five cases were
+attended by such unusual circumstances that the public could not soon
+forget them. At Coatesville, Pennsylvania, not far from Philadelphia, on
+August 12, 1911, a Negro laborer, Zach Walker, while drunk, fatally shot
+a night watchman. He was pursued and attempted suicide. Wounded, he was
+brought to town and placed in the hospital. From this place he was taken
+chained to his cot, dragged for some miles, and then tortured and burned
+to death in the presence of a great crowd of people, including many
+women, and his bones and the links of the chain which bound him
+distributed as souvenirs. At Monticello, Georgia, in January, 1915, when
+a Negro family resisted an officer who was making an arrest, the father,
+Dan Barbour, his young son, and his two daughters were all hanged to a
+tree and their bodies riddled with bullets. Before the close of the year
+there was serious trouble in the southwestern portion of the state, and
+behind this lay all the evils of the system of peonage in the black
+belt. Driven to desperation by the mistreatment accorded them in the
+raising of cotton, the Negroes at last killed an overseer who had
+whipped a Negro boy. A reign of terror was then instituted; churches,
+society halls, and homes were burnt, and several individuals shot. On
+December 30 there was a wholesale lynching of six Negroes in Early
+County. Less than three weeks afterwards a sheriff who attempted to
+arrest some more Negroes and who was accompanied by a mob was killed.
+Then (January 20, 1916) five Negroes who had been taken from the jail in
+Worth County were rushed in automobiles into Lee County adjoining, and
+hanged and shot. On May 15, 1916, at Waco, Texas, Jesse Washington, a
+sullen and overgrown boy of seventeen, who worked for a white farmer
+named Fryar at the town of Robinson, six miles away, and who one week
+before had criminally assaulted and killed Mrs. Fryar, after unspeakable
+mutilation was burned in the heart of the town. A part of the torture
+consisted in stabbing with knives and the cutting off of the boy's
+fingers as he grabbed the chain by which he was bound. Finally, on
+October 21, 1916, Anthony Crawford, a Negro farmer of Abbeville, South
+Carolina, who owned four hundred and twenty-seven acres of the best
+cotton land in his county and who was reported to be worth $20,000, was
+lynched. He had come to town to the store of W.D. Barksdale to sell a
+load of cotton-seed, and the two men had quarreled about the price,
+although no blow was struck on either side. A little later, however,
+Crawford was arrested by a local policeman and a crowd of idlers from
+the public square rushed to give him a whipping for his "impudence." He
+promptly knocked down the ringleader with a hammer. The mob then set
+upon him, nearly killed him, and at length threw him into the jail. A
+few hours later, fearing that the sheriff would secretly remove the
+prisoner, it returned, dragged the wounded man forth, and then hanged
+and shot him, after which proceedings warning was sent to his family to
+leave the county by the middle of the next month.
+
+It will be observed that in these five noteworthy occurrences, in only
+one case was there any question of criminal assault. On the other hand,
+in one case two young women were included among the victims; another was
+really a series of lynchings emphasizing the lot of some Negroes under
+a vicious economic system; and the last simply grew out of the jealousy
+and hatred aroused by a Negro of independent means who knew how to stand
+up for his rights.
+
+Such was the progress, such also the violence that the Negro witnessed
+during the decade. Along with his problems at home he now began to have
+a new interest in those of his kin across the sea, and this feeling was
+intensified by the world war. It raises questions of such far-reaching
+importance, however, that it must receive separate and distinct
+treatment.
+
+
+2. _Migration; East St. Louis_
+
+Very soon after the beginning of the Great War in Europe there began
+what will ultimately be known as the most remarkable migratory movement
+in the history of the Negro in America. Migration had indeed at no time
+ceased since the great movement of 1879, but for the most part it had
+been merely personal and not in response to any great emergency. The
+sudden ceasing of the stream of immigration from Europe, however,
+created an unprecedented demand for labor in the great industrial
+centers of the North, and business men were not long in realizing
+the possibilities of a source that had as yet been used in only the
+slightest degree. Special agents undoubtedly worked in some measure; but
+the outstanding feature of the new migration was that it was primarily a
+mass movement and not one organized or encouraged by any special group
+of leaders. Labor was needed in railroad construction, in the steel
+mills, in the tobacco farms of Connecticut, and in the packing-houses,
+foundries, and automobile plants. In 1915 the New England tobacco
+growers hastily got together in New York two hundred girls; but these
+proved to be unsatisfactory, and it was realized that the labor supply
+would have to be more carefully supervised. In January, 1916, the
+management of the Continental Tobacco Corporation definitely decided on
+the policy of importing workers from the South, and within the next year
+not less than three thousand Negroes came to Hartford, several hundred
+being students from the schools and colleges who went North to work for
+the summer. In the same summer came also train-loads of Negroes from
+Jacksonville and other points to work for the Erie and Pennsylvania
+Railroads.
+
+Those who left their homes in the South to find new ones in the North
+thus worked first of all in response to a new economic demand.
+Prominent in their thought to urge them on, however, were the generally
+unsatisfactory conditions in the South from which they had so long
+suffered and from which all too often there had seemed to be no escape.
+As it was, they were sometimes greatly embarrassed in leaving. In
+Jacksonville the city council passed an ordinance requiring that agents
+who wished to recruit labor to be sent out of the state should pay
+$1,000 for a license or suffer a fine of $600 and spend sixty days in
+jail. Macon, Ga., raised the license fee to $25,000. In Savannah the
+excitement was intense. When two trains did not move as it was expected
+that they would, three hundred Negroes paid their own fares and went
+North. Later, when the leaders of the movement could not be found, the
+police arrested one hundred of the Negroes and sent them to the police
+barracks, charging them with loitering. Similar scenes were enacted
+elsewhere, the South being then as ever unwilling to be deprived of its
+labor supply. Meanwhile wages for some men in such an industrial center
+as Birmingham leaped to $9 and $10 a day. All told, hardly less than
+three-fourths of a million Negroes went North within the four years
+1915-1918.
+
+Naturally such a great shifting of population did not take place without
+some inconvenience and hardship. Among the thousands who changed their
+place of residence were many ignorant and improvident persons; but
+sometimes it was the most skilled artisans and the most substantial
+owners of homes in different communities who sold their property
+and moved away. In the North they at once met congestion in housing
+facilities. In Philadelphia and Pittsburgh this condition became so bad
+as to demand immediate attention. In more than one place there were
+outbreaks in which lives were lost. In East St. Louis, Ill., all of the
+social problems raised by the movement were seen in their baldest guise.
+The original population of this city had come for the most part from
+Georgia, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Tennessee. It had long been an
+important industrial center. It was also a very rough place, the scene
+of prize-fights and cock-fights and a haven for escaped prisoners; and
+there was very close connection between the saloons and politics. For
+years the managers of the industrial plants had recruited their labor
+supply from Ellis Island. When this failed they turned to the Negroes of
+the South; and difficulties were aggravated by a series of strikes on
+the part of the white workers. By the spring of 1917 not less than ten
+thousand Negroes had recently arrived in the city, and the housing
+situation was so acute that these people were more and more being forced
+into the white localities. Sometimes Negroes who had recently arrived
+wandered aimlessly about the streets, where they met the rougher
+elements of the city; there were frequent fights and also much trouble
+on the street cars. The Negroes interested themselves in politics and
+even succeeded in placing in office several men of their choice. In
+February, 1917, there was a strike of the white workers at the Aluminum
+Ore Works. This was adjusted at the time, but the settlement was not
+permanent, and meanwhile there were almost daily arrivals from the
+South, and the East St. Louis _Journal_ was demanding: "Make East St.
+Louis a Lily White Town." There were preliminary riots on May 27-30. On
+the night of July I men in automobiles rode through the Negro section
+and began firing promiscuously. The next day the massacre broke forth in
+all its fury, and before it was over hundreds of thousands of dollars in
+property had been destroyed, six thousand Negroes had been driven from
+their homes, and about one hundred and fifty shot, burned, hanged, or
+maimed for life. Officers of the law failed to do their duty, and the
+testimony of victims as to the torture inflicted upon them was such as
+to send a thrill of horror through the heart of the American people.
+Later there was a congressional investigation, but from this nothing
+very material resulted. In the last week of this same month, July, 1917,
+there were also serious outbreaks in both Chester and Philadelphia,
+Penn., the fundamental issues being the same as in East St. Louis.
+
+Meanwhile welfare organizations earnestly labored to adjust the Negro in
+his new environment. In Chicago the different state clubs helped nobly.
+Greater than any other one agency, however, was the National Urban
+League, whose work now witnessed an unprecedented expansion.
+Representative was the work of the Detroit branch, which was not content
+merely with finding vacant positions, but approached manufacturers of
+all kinds through distribution of literature and by personal visits,
+and within twelve months was successful in placing not less than one
+thousand Negroes in employment other than unskilled labor. It also
+established a bureau of investigation and information regarding housing
+conditions, and generally aimed at the proper moral and social care of
+those who needed its service. The whole problem of the Negro was of such
+commanding importance after the United States entered the war as to lead
+to the creation of a special Division of Negro Economics in the office
+of the Secretary of Labor, to the directorship of which Dr. George E.
+Haynes was called.
+
+In January, 1918, a Conference of Migration was called in New York under
+the auspices of the National Urban League, and this placed before the
+American Federation of Labor resolutions asking that Negro labor be
+considered on the same basis as white. The Federation had long been
+debating the whole question of the Negro, and it had not seemed to be
+able to arrive at a clearcut policy though its general attitude was
+unfavorable. In 1919, however, it voted to take steps to recognize and
+admit Negro unions. At last it seemed to realize the necessity of making
+allies of Negro workers, and of course any such change of front on the
+part of white workmen would menace some of the foundations of racial
+strife in the South and indeed in the country at large. Just how
+effective the new decision was to be in actual practice remained to be
+seen, especially as the whole labor movement was thrown on the defensive
+by the end of 1920. However, special interest attached to the events
+in Bogalusa, La., in November, 1919. Here were the headquarters of the
+Great Southern Lumber Company, whose sawmill in the place was said to be
+the largest in the world. For some time it had made use of unorganized
+Negro labor as against the white labor unions. The forces of labor,
+however, began to organize the Negroes in the employ of the Company,
+which held political as well as capitalistic control in the community.
+The Company then began to have Negroes arrested on charges of vagrancy,
+taking them before the city court and having them fined and turned over
+to the Company to work out the fines under the guard of gunmen. In the
+troubles that came to a head on November 22, three white men were shot
+and killed, one of them being the district president of the American
+Federation of Labor, who was helping to give protection to a colored
+organizer. The full significance of this incident remained also to be
+seen; but it is quite possible that in the final history of the Negro
+problem the skirmish at Bogalusa will mark the beginning of the end of
+the exploiting of Negro labor and the first recognition of the identity
+of interest between white and black workmen in the South.
+
+
+3. _The Great War_
+
+Just on the eve of America's entrance into the war in Europe occurred
+an incident that from the standpoint of the Negro at least must finally
+appear simply as the prelude to the great contest to come. Once more,
+at an unexpected moment, ten years after Brownsville, the loyalty
+and heroism of the Negro soldier impressed the American people. The
+expedition of the American forces into Mexico in 1916, with the
+political events attending this, is a long story. The outstanding
+incident, however, was that in which two troops of the Tenth Cavalry
+engaged. About eighty men had been sent a long distance from the main
+line of the American army, their errand being supposedly the pursuit of
+a deserter. At or near the town of Carrizal the Americans seem to have
+chosen to go through the town rather than around it, and the result was
+a clash in which Captain Boyd, who commanded the detachment, and some
+twenty of his men were killed, twenty-two others being captured by the
+Mexicans. Under the circumstances the whole venture was rather imprudent
+in the first place. As to the engagement itself, the Mexicans said that
+the American troops made the attack, while the latter said that the
+Mexicans themselves first opened fire. However this may have been,
+all other phases of the Mexican problem seemed for the moment to be
+forgotten at Washington in the demand for the release of the twenty-two
+men who had been taken. There was no reason for holding them, and they
+were brought up to El Paso within a few days and sent across the line.
+Thus, though "some one had blundered," these Negro soldiers did their
+duty; "theirs not to make reply; theirs but to do and die." So in the
+face of odds they fought like heroes and twenty died beneath the Mexican
+stars.
+
+When the United States entered the war in Europe in April, 1917, the
+question of overwhelming importance to the Negro people was naturally
+that of their relation to the great conflict in which their country
+had become engaged. Their response to the draft call set a noteworthy
+example of loyalty to all other elements in the country. At the very
+outset the race faced a terrible dilemma: If there were to be special
+training camps for officers, and if the National Government would make
+no provision otherwise, did it wish to have a special camp for Negroes,
+such as would give formal approval to a policy of segregation, or did it
+wish to have no camp at all on such terms and thus lose the opportunity
+to have any men of the race specially trained as officers? The camp was
+secured--Camp Dodge, near Des Moines, Iowa; and throughout the summer
+of 1917 the work of training went forward, the heart of a harassed and
+burdened people responding more and more with pride to the work of their
+men. On October 15, 625 became commissioned officers, and all told 1200
+received commissions. To the fighting forces of the United States the
+race furnished altogether very nearly 400,000 men, of whom just a little
+more than half actually saw service in Europe.
+
+Negro men served in all branches of the military establishment and also
+as surveyors and draftsmen. For the handling of many of the questions
+relating to them Emmett J. Scott was on October 1, 1917, appointed
+Special Assistant to the Secretary of War. Mr. Scott had for a number
+of years assisted Dr. Booker T. Washington as secretary at Tuskegee
+Institute, and in 1909 he was one of the three members of the special
+commission appointed by President Taft for the investigation of Liberian
+affairs. Negro nurses were authorized by the War Department for service
+in base hospitals at six army camps, and women served also as canteen
+workers in France and in charge of hostess houses in the United States.
+Sixty Negro men served as chaplains; 350 as Y.M.C.A. secretaries; and
+others in special capacities. Service of exceptional value was rendered
+by Negro women in industry, and very largely also they maintained and
+promoted the food supply through agriculture at the same time that they
+released men for service at the front. Meanwhile the race invested
+millions of dollars in Liberty Bonds and War Savings stamps and
+contributed generously to the Red Cross, Y.M.C.A., and other relief
+agencies. In the summer of 1918 interest naturally centered upon
+the actual performance of Negro soldiers in France and upon the
+establishment of units of the Students' Army Training Corps in twenty
+leading educational institutions. When these units were demobilized in
+December, 1918, provision was made in a number of the schools for the
+formation of units of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps.
+
+The remarkable record made by the Negro in the previous wars of the
+country was fully equaled by that in the Great War. Negro soldiers
+fought with special distinction in the Argonne Forest, at
+Château-Thierry, in Belleau Wood, in the St. Mihiel district, in the
+Champagne sector, at Vosges and Metz, winning often very high praise
+from their commanders. Entire regiments of Negro troops were cited for
+exceptional valor and decorated with the Croix de Guerre--the 369th, the
+371st, and the 372nd; while groups of officers and men of the 365th, the
+366th, the 368th, the 370th, and the first battalion of the 367th were
+also decorated. At the close of the war the highest Negro officers in
+the army were Lieutenant Colonel Otis B. Duncan, commander of the third
+battalion of the 370th, formerly the Eighth Illinois, and the highest
+ranking Negro officer in the American Expeditionary Forces; Colonel
+Charles Young (retired), on special duty at Camp Grant, Ill.; Colonel
+Franklin A. Dennison, of the 370th Infantry, and Lieutenant Colonel
+Benjamin O. Davis, of the Ninth Cavalry. The 370th was the first
+American regiment stationed in the St. Mihiel sector; it was one of the
+three that occupied a sector at Verdun when a penetration there would
+have been disastrous to the Allied cause; and it went direct from the
+training camp to the firing-line. Noteworthy also was the record of
+the 369th infantry, formerly the Fifteenth Regiment, New York National
+Guard. This organization was under shellfire for 191 days, and it held
+one trench for 91 days without relief. It was the first unit of Allied
+fighters to reach the Rhine, going down as an advance guard of the
+French army of occupation. A prominent hero in this regiment was
+Sergeant Henry Johnson, who returned with the Croix de Guerre with one
+star and one palm. He is credited with routing a party of Germans at
+Bois-Hanzey in the Argonne on May 5, 1918, with singularly heavy losses
+to the enemy. Many other men acted with similar bravery. Hardly less
+heroic was the service of the stevedore regiments, or the thousands of
+men in the army who did not go to France but who did their duty as they
+were commanded at home. General Vincenden said of the men of the 370th:
+"Fired by a noble ardor, they go at times even beyond the objectives
+given them by the higher command; they have always wished to be in the
+front line"; and General Coybet said of the 371st and 372nd: "The most
+powerful defenses, the most strongly organized machine gun nests, the
+heaviest artillery barrages--nothing could stop them. These crack
+regiments overcame every obstacle with a most complete contempt for
+danger.... They have shown us the way to victory."
+
+In spite of his noble record--perhaps in some measure because of it--and
+in the face of his loyal response to the call to duty, the Negro
+unhappily became in the course of the war the victim of proscription and
+propaganda probably without parallel in the history of the country. No
+effort seems to have been spared to discredit him both as a man and as
+a soldier. In both France and America the apparent object of the forces
+working against him was the intention to prevent any feeling that the
+war would make any change in the condition of the race at home. In the
+South Negroes were sometimes forced into peonage and restrained in their
+efforts to go North; and generally they had no representation on local
+boards, the draft was frequently operated so as to be unfair to them,
+and every man who registered found special provision for the indication
+of his race in the corner of his card. Accordingly in many localities
+Negroes contributed more than their quota, this being the result
+of favoritism shown to white draftees. The first report of the
+Provost-Marshal General showed that of every 100 Negroes called 36 were
+certified for service, while of every 100 white men called only 25 were
+certified. Of those summoned in Class I Negroes contributed 51.65 per
+cent of their registrants as against 32.53 per cent of the white. In
+France the work of defamation was manifest and flagrant. Slanders about
+the Negro soldiers were deliberately circulated among the French people,
+sometimes on very high authority, much of this propaganda growing out of
+a jealous fear of any acquaintance whatsoever of the Negro men with the
+French women. Especially insolent and sometimes brutal were the men
+of the military police, who at times shot and killed on the slightest
+provocation. Proprietors who sold to Negro soldiers were sometimes
+boycotted, and offenses were magnified which in the case of white men
+never saw publication. Negro officers were discriminated against in
+hotel and traveling accommodations, while upon the ordinary men in
+the service fell unduly any specially unpleasant duty such as that
+of re-burying the dead. White women engaged in "Y" work, especially
+Southern women, showed a disposition not to serve Negroes, though the
+Red Cross and Salvation Army organizations were much better in this
+respect; and finally the Negro soldier was not given any place in the
+great victory parade in Paris. About the close of the war moreover a
+great picture, or series of pictures, the "Pantheon de la Guerre," that
+was on a mammoth scale and that attracted extraordinary attention, was
+noteworthy as giving representation to all of the forces and divisions
+of the Allied armies except the Negroes in the forces from the United
+States.[1] Not unnaturally the Germans endeavored--though without
+success--to capitalize the situation by circulating among the Negroes
+insidious literature that sometimes made very strong points. All of
+these things are to be considered by those people in the United States
+who think that the Negro suffers unduly from a grievance.
+
+[Footnote 1: On the whole subject of the actual life of the Negro
+soldier unusual interest attaches to the forthcoming and authoritative
+"Sidelights on Negro Soldiers," by Charles H. Williams, who as a special
+and official investigator had unequaled opportunity to study the Negro
+in camp and on the battle-line both in the United States and in France.]
+
+While the Negro soldier abroad was thus facing unusual pressure in
+addition to the ordinary hardships of war, at home occurred an incident
+that was doubly depressing coming as it did just a few weeks after
+the massacre at East St. Louis. In August, 1917, a battalion of the
+Twenty-fourth Infantry, stationed at Houston, Texas, to assist in the
+work of concentrating soldiers for the war in Europe, encountered the
+ill-will of the town, and between the city police and the Negro military
+police there was constant friction. At last when one of the Negroes had
+been beaten, word was circulated among his comrades that he had been
+shot, and a number of them set out for revenge. In the riot that
+followed (August 23) two of the Negroes and seventeen white people of
+the town were killed, the latter number including five policemen. As
+a result of this encounter sixty-three members of the battalion were
+court-martialed at Fort Sam Houston. Thirteen were hanged on December
+11, 1917, five more were executed on September 13, 1918, fifty-one were
+sentenced to life imprisonment and five to briefer terms; and the Negro
+people of the country felt very keenly the fact that the condemned
+men were hanged like common criminals rather than given the death of
+soldiers. Thus for one reason or another the whole matter of the war and
+the incidents connected therewith simply made the Negro question more
+bitterly than ever the real disposition toward him of the government
+under which he lived and which he had striven so long to serve.
+
+
+4. _High Tension: Washington, Chicago, Elaine_
+
+Such incidents abroad and such feeling at home as we have recorded not
+only agitated the Negro people, but gave thousands of other citizens
+concern, and when the armistice suddenly came on November 11, 1918, not
+only in the South but in localities elsewhere in the country racial
+feeling had been raised to the highest point. About the same time there
+began to be spread abroad sinister rumors that the old KuKlux were
+riding again; and within a few months parades at night in representative
+cities in Alabama and Georgia left no doubt that the rumors were well
+founded. The Negro people fully realized the significance of the new
+movement, and they felt full well the pressure being brought to bear
+upon them in view of the shortage of domestic servants in the South.
+Still more did they sense the situation that would face their sons and
+brothers when they returned from France. But they were not afraid; and
+in all of the riots of the period the noteworthy fact stands out that
+in some of the cities in which the situation was most tense--notably
+Atlanta and Birmingham--no great race trouble was permitted to start.
+
+In general, however, the violence that had characterized the year 1917
+continued through 1918 and 1919. In the one state of Tennessee, within
+less than a year and on separate occasions, three Negroes were burned at
+the stake. On May 22, 1917, near Memphis, Ell T. Person, nearly fifty
+years of age, was burned for the alleged assault and murder of a young
+woman; and in this case the word "alleged" is used advisedly, for the
+whole matter of the fixing of the blame for the crime and the fact that
+the man was denied a legal trial left grave doubt as to the extent of
+his guilt. On Sunday, December 2, 1917, at Dyersburg, immediately after
+the adjournment of services in the churches of the town, Lation Scott,
+guilty of criminal assault, was burned; his eyes were put out with
+red-hot irons, a hot poker was rammed down his throat, and he was
+mutilated in unmentionable ways. Two months later, on February 12, 1918,
+at Estill Springs, Jim McIlheron, who had shot and killed two young
+white men, was also burned at the stake. In Estill Springs it had for
+some time been the sport of young white men in the community to throw
+rocks at single Negroes and make them run. Late one afternoon McIlheron
+went into a store to buy some candy. As he passed out, a remark was made
+by one of three young men about his eating his candy. The rest of the
+story is obvious.
+
+As horrible as these burnings were, it is certain that they did not
+grind the iron into the Negro's soul any more surely than the three
+stories that follow. Hampton Smith was known as one of the harshest
+employers of Negro labor in Brooks County, Ga. As it was difficult for
+him to get help otherwise, he would go into the courts and whenever a
+Negro was convicted and was unable to pay his fine or was sentenced to
+a term on the chain-gang, he would pay the fine and secure the man for
+work on his plantation. He thus secured the services of Sidney Johnson,
+fined thirty dollars for gambling. After Johnson had more than worked
+out the thirty dollars he asked pay for the additional time he served.
+Smith refused to give this and a quarrel resulted. A few mornings later,
+when Johnson, sick, did not come to work, Smith found him in his cabin
+and beat him. A few evenings later, while Smith was sitting in his home,
+he was shot through a window and killed instantly, and his wife was
+wounded. As a result of this occurrence the Negroes of both Brooks and
+Lowndes counties were terrorized for the week May 17-24, 1918, and not
+less than eleven of them lynched. Into the bodies of two men lynched
+together not less than seven hundred bullets are said to have been
+fired. Johnson himself had been shot dead when he was found; but his
+body was mutilated, dragged through the streets of Valdosta, and burned.
+Mary Turner, the wife of one of the victims, said that her husband had
+been unjustly treated and that if she knew who had killed him she would
+have warrants sworn out against them. For saying this she too was
+lynched, although she was in an advanced state of pregnancy. Her ankles
+were tied together and she was hung to a tree, head downward. Gasoline
+and oil from the automobiles near were thrown on her clothing and a
+match applied. While she was yet alive her abdomen was cut open with a
+large knife and her unborn babe fell to the ground. It gave two feeble
+cries and then its head was crushed by a member of the mob with his
+heel. Hundreds of bullets were then fired into the woman's body. As
+a result of these events not less than five hundred Negroes left the
+immediate vicinity of Valdosta immediately, and hundreds of others
+prepared to leave as soon as they could dispose of their land, and
+this they proceeded to do in the face of the threat that any Negro who
+attempted to leave would be regarded as implicated in the murder of
+Smith and dealt with accordingly. At the end of this same year--on
+December 20, 1918--four young Negroes--Major Clark, aged twenty; Andrew
+Clark, aged fifteen; Maggie Howze, aged twenty, and Alma Howze, aged
+sixteen--were taken from the little jail at Shubuta, Mississippi, and
+lynched on a bridge near the town. They were accused of the murder of
+E.L. Johnston, a white dentist, though all protested their innocence.
+The situation that preceded the lynching was significant. Major Clark
+was in love with Maggie Howze and planned to marry her. This thought
+enraged Johnston, who was soon to become the father of a child by the
+young woman, and who told Clark to leave her alone. As the two sisters
+were about to be killed, Maggie screamed and fought, crying, "I ain't
+guilty of killing the doctor and you oughtn't to kill me"; and to
+silence her cries one member of the mob struck her in the mouth with
+a monkey wrench, knocking her teeth out. On May 24, 1919, at Milan,
+Telfair County, Georgia, two young white men, Jim Dowdy and Lewis Evans,
+went drunk late at night to the Negro section of the town and to the
+home of a widow who had two daughters. They were refused admittance and
+then fired into the house. The girls, frightened, ran to another home.
+They were pursued, and Berry Washington, a respectable Negro seventy-two
+years of age, seized a shotgun, intending to give them protection; and
+in the course of the shooting that followed Dowdy was killed. The next
+night, Saturday the 25th, Washington was taken to the place where Dowdy
+was killed and his body shot to pieces.
+
+It remained for the capital of the nation, however, largely to show the
+real situation of the race in the aftermath of a great war conducted
+by a Democratic administration. Heretofore the Federal Government had
+declared itself powerless to act in the case of lawlessness in an
+individual state; but it was now to have an opportunity to deal with
+violence in Washington itself. On July 19, 1919, a series of lurid and
+exaggerated stories in the daily papers of attempted assaults of Negroes
+on white women resulted in an outbreak that was intended to terrorize
+the popular Northwest section, in which lived a large proportion of
+the Negroes in the District of Columbia. For three days the violence
+continued intermittently, and as the constituted police authority did
+practically nothing for the defense of the Negro citizens, the loss of
+life might have been infinitely greater than it was if the colored men
+of the city had not assumed their own defense. As it was they saved the
+capital and earned the gratitude of the race and the nation. It appeared
+that Negroes--educated, law-abiding Negroes--would not now run when
+their lives and their homes were at stake, and before such determination
+the mob retreated ingloriously.
+
+Just a week afterwards--before the country had really caught its breath
+after the events in Washington--there burst into flame in Chicago a race
+war of the greatest bitterness and fierceness. For a number of years the
+Western metropolis had been known as that city offering to the Negro
+the best industrial and political opportunity in the country. When the
+migration caused by the war was at its height, tens of thousands of
+Negroes from the South passed through the city going elsewhere, but
+thousands also remained to work in the stockyards or other places. With
+all of the coming and going, the Negroes in the city must at any time in
+1918 or 1919 have numbered not less than 150,000; and banks, coöperative
+societies, and race newspapers flourished. There were also abundant
+social problems awakened by the saloons and gambling dens, and by the
+seamy side of politics. Those who had been longest in the city, however,
+rallied to the needs of the newcomers, and in their homes, their
+churches, and their places of work endeavored to get them adjusted in
+their environment. The housing situation, in spite of all such effort,
+became more and more acute, and when some Negroes were forced beyond the
+bounds of the old "black belt" there were attempts to dynamite their new
+residences. Meanwhile hundreds of young men who had gone to France or to
+cantonments--1850 from the district of one draft board at State and 35th
+Streets--returned to find again a place in the life of Chicago; and
+daily from Washington or from the South came the great waves of social
+unrest. Said Arnold Hill, secretary of the Chicago branch of the
+National Urban League: "Every time a lynching takes place in a community
+down South you can depend on it that colored people from that community
+will arrive in Chicago inside of two weeks; we have seen it happen so
+often that whenever we read newspaper dispatches of a public hanging
+or burning in a Texas or a Mississippi town, we get ready to extend
+greetings to the people from the immediate vicinity of the lynching."
+Before the armistice was signed the League was each month finding work
+for 1700 or 1800 men and women; in the following April the number fell
+to 500, but with the coming of summer it rapidly rose again. Unskilled
+work was plentiful, and jobs in foundries and steel mills, in building
+and construction work, and in light factories and packing-houses kept up
+a steady demand for laborers. Meanwhile trouble was brewing, and on the
+streets there were occasional encounters.
+
+Such was the situation when on a Sunday at the end of July a Negro boy
+at a bathing beach near Twenty-sixth Street swam across an imaginary
+segregation line. White boys threw rocks at him, knocked him off a raft,
+and he was drowned. Colored people rushed to a policeman and asked him
+to arrest the boys who threw the stones. He refused to do so, and as the
+dead body of the Negro boy was being handled, more rocks were thrown
+on both sides. The trouble thus engendered spread through the Negro
+district on the South Side, and for a week it was impossible or
+dangerous for people to go to work. Some employed at the stockyards
+could not get to their work for some days further. At the end of three
+days twenty Negroes were reported as dead, fourteen white men were dead,
+scores of people were injured, and a number of houses of Negroes burned.
+
+In the face of this disaster the great soul of Chicago rose above its
+materialism. There were many conferences between representative people;
+out of all the effort grew the determination to work for a nobler city;
+and the sincerity was such as to give one hope not only for Chicago but
+also for a new and better America.
+
+The riots in Washington and Chicago were followed within a few weeks by
+outbreaks in Knoxville and Omaha. In the latter place the fundamental
+cause of the trouble was social and political corruption, and because he
+strongly opposed the lynching of William Brown, the Negro, the mayor of
+the city, Edward P. Smith, very nearly lost his life. As it was, the
+county court house was burned, one man more was killed, and perhaps
+as many as forty injured. More important even than this, however--and
+indeed one of the two or three most far-reaching instances of racial
+trouble in the history of the Negro in America--was the reign of terror
+in and near Elaine, Phillips County, Arkansas, in the first week of
+October, 1919. The causes of this were fundamental and reached the very
+heart of the race problem and of the daily life of tens of thousands of
+Negroes.
+
+Many Negro tenants in eastern Arkansas, as in other states, were still
+living under a share system by which the owner furnished the land
+and the Negro the labor, and by which at the end of the year the two
+supposedly got equal parts of the crop. Meanwhile throughout the
+year the tenant would get his food, clothing, and other supplies at
+exorbitant prices from a "commissary" operated by the planter or his
+agent; and in actual practice the landowner and the tenant did not go
+together to a city to dispose of the crop when it was gathered, as was
+sometimes done elsewhere, but the landowner alone sold the crop and
+settled with the tenant whenever and however he pleased; nor at the time
+of settlement was any itemized statement of supplies given, only the
+total amount owed being stated. Obviously the planter could regularly
+pad his accounts, keep the Negro in debt, and be assured of his labor
+supply from year to year.
+
+In 1918 the price of cotton was constantly rising and at length reached
+forty cents a pound. Even with the cheating to which the Negroes were
+subjected, it became difficult to keep them in debt, and they became
+more and more insistent in their demands for itemized statements.
+Nevertheless some of those whose cotton was sold in October, 1918, did
+not get any statement of any sort before July of the next year.
+
+Seeing no other way out of their difficulty, sixty-eight of the Negroes
+got together and decided to hire a lawyer who would help them to get
+statements of their accounts and settlement at the right figures.
+Feeling that the life of any Negro lawyer who took such a case would be
+endangered, they employed the firm of Bratton and Bratton, of Little
+Rock. They made contracts with this firm to handle the sixty-eight cases
+at fifty dollars each in cash and a percentage of the moneys collected
+from the white planters. Some of the Negroes also planned to go before
+the Federal Grand Jury and charge certain planters with peonage. They
+had secret meetings from time to time in order to collect the money to
+be paid in advance and to collect the evidence which would enable them
+successfully to prosecute their cases. Some Negro cotton-pickers about
+the same time organized a union; and at Elaine many Negroes who worked
+in the sawmills and who desired to protect their wives and daughters
+from insult, refused to allow them to pick cotton or to work for a white
+man at any price.
+
+Such was the sentiment out of which developed the Progressive Farmers
+and Household Union of America, which was an effort by legal means to
+secure protection from unscrupulous landlords, but which did use the
+form of a fraternal order with passwords and grips and insignia so as
+the more forcefully to appeal to some of its members. About the first of
+October the report was spread abroad in Phillips County that the Negroes
+were plotting an insurrection and that they were rapidly preparing to
+massacre the white people on a great scale. When the situation had
+become tense, one Sunday John Clem, a white man from Helena, drunk, came
+to Elaine and proceeded to terrorize the Negro population by gun play.
+The colored people kept off the streets in order to avoid trouble and
+telephoned the sheriff at Helena. This man failed to act. The next day
+Clem was abroad again, but the Negroes still avoided trouble, thinking
+that his acts were simply designed to start a race riot. On Tuesday
+evening, October 1, however, W.D. Adkins, a special agent of the
+Missouri Pacific Railroad, in company with Charles Pratt, a deputy
+sheriff, was riding past a Negro church near Hoop Spur, a small
+community just a few miles from Elaine. According to Pratt, persons in
+the church fired without cause on the party, killing Adkins and wounding
+himself. According to the Negroes, Adkins and Pratt fired into the
+church, evidently to frighten the people there assembled. At any rate
+word spread through the county that the massacre had started, and for
+days there was murder and rioting, in the course of which not less
+than five white men and twenty-five Negroes were killed, though some
+estimates placed the number of fatalities a great deal higher. Negroes
+were arrested and disarmed; some were shot on the highways; homes were
+fired into; and at one time hundreds of men and women were in a stockade
+under heavy guard and under the most unwholesome conditions, while
+hundreds of white men, armed to the teeth, rushed to the vicinity from
+neighboring cities and towns. Governor Charles H. Brough telegraphed to
+Camp Pike for Federal troops, and five hundred were mobilized at once
+"to repel the attack of the black army." Worse than any other feature
+was the wanton slaying of the four Johnston brothers, whose father had
+been a prominent Presbyterian minister and whose mother was formerly a
+school-teacher. Dr. D.A.E. Johnston was a successful dentist and owned a
+three-story building in Helena. Dr. Louis Johnston was a physician who
+lived in Oklahoma and who had come home on a visit. A third brother had
+served in France and been wounded and gassed at Château-Thierry.
+
+Altogether one thousand Negroes were arrested and one hundred and
+twenty-two indicted. A special committee of seven gathered evidence and
+is charged with having used electric connections on the witness chair
+in order to frighten the Negroes. Twelve men were sentenced to death
+(though up to the end of 1920 execution had been stayed), and fifty-four
+to penitentiary terms. The trials lasted from five to ten minutes each.
+No witnesses for the defense were called; no Negroes were on the juries;
+no change of venue was given. Meanwhile lawyers at Helena were preparing
+to reap further harvest from Negroes who would be indicted and against
+whom there was no evidence, but who had saved money and Liberty Bonds.
+
+Governor Brough in a statement to the press blamed the _Crisis_ and the
+Chicago _Defender_ for the trouble. He had served for a number of years
+as a professor of economics before becoming governor and had even
+identified himself with the forward-looking University Commission on
+Southern Race Questions; and it is true that he postponed the executions
+in order to allow appeals to be filed in behalf of the condemned men.
+That he should thus attempt to shift the burden of blame and overlook
+the facts when in a position of grave responsibility was a keen
+disappointment to the lovers of progress.
+
+Reference to the monthly periodical and the weekly paper just mentioned,
+however, brings us to still another matter--the feeling on the part of
+the Negro that, in addition to the outrages visited on the race, the
+Government was now, under the cloak of wartime legislation, formally to
+attempt to curtail its freedom of speech. For some days the issue of
+the _Crisis_ for May, 1919, was held up in the mail; a South Carolina
+representative in Congress quoted by way of denunciation from the
+editorial "Returning Soldiers" in the same number of the periodical;
+and a little later in the year the Department of Justice devoted
+twenty-seven pages of the report of the investigation against "Persons
+Advising Anarchy, Sedition, and the Forcible Overthrow of the
+Government" to a report on "Radicalism and Sedition among the Negroes
+as Reflected in Their Publications." Among other periodicals and papers
+mentioned were the _Messenger_ and the _Negro World_ of New York; and by
+the _Messenger_ indeed, frankly radical in its attitude not only on the
+race question but also on fundamental economic principles, even the
+_Crisis_ was regarded as conservative in tone. There could be no doubt
+that a great spiritual change had come over the Negro people of the
+United States. At the very time that their sons and brothers were making
+the supreme sacrifice in France they were witnessing such events as
+those at East St. Louis or Houston, or reading of three burnings within
+a year in Tennessee. A new determination closely akin to consecration
+possessed them. Fully to understand the new spirit one would read not
+only such publications as those that have been mentioned, but also those
+issued in the heart of the South. "Good-by, Black Mammy," said the
+_Southwestern Christian Advocate_, taking as its theme the story of four
+Southern white men who acted as honorary pallbearers at an old Negro
+woman's funeral, but who under no circumstances would thus have served
+for a thrifty, intelligent, well-educated man of the race. Said the
+Houston _Informer_, voicing the feeling of thousands, "The black man
+fought to make the world safe for democracy; he now demands that America
+be made and maintained safe for black Americans." With hypocrisy in
+the practice of the Christian religion there ceased to be any patience
+whatsoever, as was shown by the treatment accorded a Y.M.C.A. "Call on
+behalf of the young men and boys of the two great sister Anglo-Saxon
+nations." "Read! Read! Read!" said the _Challenge Magazine_, "then
+when the mob comes, whether with torch or with gun, let us stand at
+Armageddon and battle for the Lord." "Protect your home," said the
+gentle _Christian Recorder_, "protect your wife and children, with your
+life if necessary. If a man crosses your threshold after you and your
+family, the law allows you to protect your home even if you have to kill
+the intruder." Perhaps nothing, however, better summed up the new spirit
+than the following sonnet by Claude McKay:
+
+  If we must die, let it not be like hogs
+    Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
+  While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
+    Making their mock at our accursed lot.
+  If we must die, let it not be like hogs
+    So that our precious blood may not be shed
+  In vain; then even the monsters we defy
+    Shall be constrained to honor us, though dead!
+  Oh, kinsman! We must meet the common foe;
+    Though far outnumbered, let us still be brave,
+  And for their thousand blows deal one deathblow!
+    What though before us lies the open grave?
+  Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack
+    Pressed to the wall, dying, but--fighting back!
+
+
+5. _The Widening Problem_
+
+In view of the world war and the important part taken in it by French
+colonial troops, especially those from Senegal, it is not surprising
+that the heart of the Negro people in the United States broadened in a
+new sympathy with the problems of their brothers the world over. Even
+early in the decade that we are now considering, however, there was some
+indication of this tendency, and the First Universal Races Congress in
+London in 1911 attracted wide attention. In February, 1919, largely
+through the personal effort of Dr. DuBois, a Pan-African Congress was
+held in Paris, the chief aims of which were the hearing of statements
+on the condition of Negroes throughout the world, the obtaining of
+authoritative statements of policy toward the Negro race from the Great
+Powers, the making of strong representations to the Peace Conference
+then sitting in Paris in behalf of the Negroes throughout the world, and
+the laying down of principles on which the future development of the
+race must take place. Meanwhile the cession of the Virgin Islands had
+fixed attention upon an interesting colored population at the very door
+of the United States; and the American occupation of Hayti culminating
+in the killing of many of the people in the course of President Wilson's
+second administration gave a new feeling of kinship for the land of
+Toussaint L'Ouverture. Among other things the evidence showed that on
+June 12, 1918, under military pressure a new constitution was forced on
+the Haytian people, one favoring the white man and the foreigner;
+that by force and brutality innocent men and women, including native
+preachers and members of their churches, had been taken, roped together,
+and marched as slave-gangs to prison; and that in large numbers Haytians
+had been taken from their homes and farms and made to work on new roads
+for twenty cents a week, without being properly furnished with food--all
+of this being done under the pretense of improving the social and
+political condition of the country. The whole world now realized that
+the Negro problem was no longer local in the United States or South
+Africa, or the West Indies, but international in its scope and
+possibilities.
+
+Very early in the course of the conflict in Europe it was pointed out
+that Africa was the real prize of the war, and it is now simply a
+commonplace to say that the bases of the struggle were economic. Nothing
+did Germany regret more than the forcible seizure of her African
+possessions. One can not fail to observe, moreover, a tendency of
+discussion of problems resultant from the war to shift the consideration
+from that of pure politics to that of racial relations, and early in the
+conflict students of society the world over realized that it was nothing
+less than suicide on the part of the white race. After the close of the
+war many books dealing with the issues at stake were written, and in the
+year 1920 alone several of these appeared in the United States. Of all
+of these publications, because of their different points of view, four
+might call for special consideration--_The Republic of Liberia_, by
+R.C.F. Maugham; _The Rising Tide of Color_, by Lothrop Stoddard;
+_Darkwater_, by W.E. Burghardt DuBois, and _Empire and Commerce in
+Africa: A Study in Economic Imperialism_, by Leonard Woolf. The position
+of each of these books is clear and all bear directly upon the central
+theme.
+
+The _Republic of Liberia_ was written by one who some years ago was the
+English consul at Monrovia and who afterwards was appointed to Dakar.
+The supplementary preface also gives the information that the book was
+really written two years before it appeared, publication being delayed
+on account of the difficulties of printing at the time. Even up to 1918,
+however, the account is incomplete, and the failure to touch upon recent
+developments becomes serious; but it is of course impossible to record
+the history of Liberia from 1847 to the present and reflect credit upon
+England. There are some pages of value in the book, especially those in
+which the author speaks of the labor situation in the little African
+republic; but these are obviously intended primarily for consumption by
+business men in London. "Liberians," we are informed, "tell you that,
+whatever may be said to the contrary, the republic's most uncomfortable
+neighbor has always been France." This is hardly true. France has
+indeed on more than one occasion tried to equal her great rival in
+aggrandizement, but she has never quite succeeded in so doing. As we
+have already shown in connection with Liberia in the present work, from
+the very first the shadow of Great Britain fell across the country. In
+more recent years, by loans that were no more than clever plans for
+thievery, by the forceful occupation of large tracts of land, and by
+interference in the internal affairs of the country, England has again
+and again proved herself the arch-enemy of the republic. The book so
+recently written in the last analysis appears to be little more than the
+basis of effort toward still further exploitation.
+
+The very merit of _The Rising Tide of Color_ depends on its bias, and it
+is significant that the book closes with a quotation from Kipling's "The
+Heritage." To Dr. Stoddard the most disquieting feature of the recent
+situation was not the war but the peace. Says he, "The white world's
+inability to frame a constructive settlement, the perpetuation of
+intestine hatreds and the menace of fresh civil wars complicated by the
+specter of social revolution, evoke the dread thought that the late
+war may be merely the first stage in a cycle of ruin." As for the war
+itself, "As colored men realized the significance of it all, they looked
+into each other's eyes and there saw the light of undreamed-of hopes.
+The white world was tearing itself to pieces. White solidarity was
+riven and shattered. And--fear of white power and respect for white
+civilization together dropped away like garments outworn. Through the
+bazaars of Asia ran the sibilant whisper: 'The East will see the West
+to bed.'" At last comes the inevitable conclusion pleading for a better
+understanding between England and Germany and for everything else that
+would make for racial solidarity. The pitiful thing about this book
+is that it is so thoroughly representative of the thing for which it
+pleads. It is the very essence of jingoism; civilization does not exist
+in and of itself, it is "white"; and the conclusions are directly at
+variance with the ideals that have been supposed to guide England
+and America. Incidentally the work speaks of the Negro and negroid
+population of Africa as "estimated at about 120,000,000." This low
+estimate has proved a common pitfall for writers. If we remember that
+Africa is three and a half times as large as the United States, and that
+while there are no cities as large as New York and Chicago, there are
+many centers of very dense population; if we omit entirely from the
+consideration the Desert of Sahara and make due allowance for some
+heavily wooded tracts in which live no people at all; and if we then
+take some fairly well-known region like Nigeria or Sierra Leone as the
+basis of estimate, we shall arrive at some such figure as 450,000,000.
+In order to satisfy any other points that might possibly be made, let us
+reduce this by as much as a third, and we shall still have 300,000,000,
+which figure we feel justified in advancing as the lowest possible
+estimate for the population of Africa; and yet most books tell us that
+there are only 140,000,000 people on the whole continent.
+
+_Darkwater_ may be regarded as the reply to such a position as that
+taken by Dr. Stoddard. If the white world conceives it to be its destiny
+to exploit the darker races of mankind, then it simply remains for the
+darker races to gird their loins for the contest. "What of the darker
+world that watches? Most men belong to this world. With Negro and
+Negroid, East Indian, Chinese, and Japanese they form two-thirds of the
+population of the world. A belief in humanity is a belief in colored
+men. If the uplift of mankind must be done by men, then the destinies of
+this world will rest ultimately in the hands of darker nations. What,
+then, is this dark world thinking? It is thinking that as wild and awful
+as this shameful war was, it is nothing to compare with that fight for
+freedom which black and brown and yellow men must and will make unless
+their oppression and humiliation and insult at the hands of the White
+World cease. The Dark World is going to submit to its present treatment
+just as long as it must and not one moment longer."
+
+Both of these books are strong, and both are materialistic; and
+materialism, it must be granted, is a very important factor in the world
+just now. Somewhat different in outlook, however, is the book that
+labors under an economic subject, _Empire and Commerce in Africa_. In
+general the inquiry is concerned with the question, What do we desire
+to attain, particularly economically, in Africa, and how far is it
+attainable through policy? The discussion is mainly confined to the
+three powers: England, France, and Germany; and special merit attaches
+to the chapter on Abyssinia, probably the best brief account of this
+country ever written. Mr. Woolf announces such fundamental principles as
+that the land in Africa should be reserved for the natives; that there
+should be systematic education of the natives with a view to training
+them to take part in, and eventually control, the government of the
+country; that there should be a gradual expatriation of all Europeans
+and their capitalistic enterprises; that all revenue raised in Africa
+should be applied to the development of the country and the education
+and health of the inhabitants; that alcohol should be absolutely
+prohibited; and that Africa should be completely neutralized, that is,
+in no case should any military operations between European states be
+allowed. The difficulties of the enforcement of such a program are of
+course apparent to the author; but with other such volumes as this to
+guide and mold opinion, the time may indeed come at no distant date when
+Africa will cease to exist solely for exploitation and no longer be the
+rebuke of Christendom.
+
+These four books then express fairly well the different opinions and
+hopes with which Africa and the world problem that the continent raises
+have recently been regarded. It remains simply to mention a conception
+that after the close of the war found many adherents in the United
+States and elsewhere, and whose operation was on a scale that forced
+recognition. This was the idea of the Provisional Republic of Africa,
+the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities
+League of the World, the Black Star Line of steamships, and the Negro
+Factories Corporation, all of which activities were centered in New
+York, had as their organ the _Negro World_, and as their president and
+leading spirit Marcus Garvey, who was originally from Jamaica. The
+central thought that appealed to great crowds of people and won their
+support was that of freedom for the race in every sense of the word.
+Such freedom, it was declared, transcended the mere demand for the
+enforcement of certain political and social rights and could finally be
+realised only under a vast super-government guiding the destinies of the
+race in Africa, the United States, the West Indies, and everywhere else
+in the world. This was to control its people "just as the Pope and the
+Catholic Church control its millions in every land." The related ideas
+and activities were sometimes termed grandiose and they awakened
+much opposition on the part of the old leaders, the clergy, while
+conservative business stood aloof. At the same time the conception is
+one that deserves to be considered on its merits.
+
+It is quite possible that if promoted on a scale vast enough such a
+Negro super-government as that proposed could be realized. It is true
+that England and France seem to-day to have a firm grip on the continent
+of Africa, but the experience of Germany has shown that even the mailèd
+fist may lose its strength overnight. With England beset with problems
+in Ireland and the West Indies, in India and Egypt, it is easy for the
+millions in equatorial Africa to be made to know that even this great
+power is not invincible and in time might rest with Nineveh and Tyre.
+There are things in Africa that will forever baffle all Europeans, and
+no foreign governor will ever know all that is at the back of the black
+man's mind. Even now, without the aid of modern science, information
+travels in a few hours throughout the length and breadth of the
+continent; and those that slept are beginning to be awake and restless.
+Let this restlessness increase, let intelligence also increase, let the
+natives be aided by their fever, and all the armies of Europe could be
+lost in Africa and this ancient mother still rise bloody but unbowed.
+The realization of the vision, however, would call for capital on a
+scale as vast as that of a modern war or an international industrial
+enterprise. At the very outset it would engage England in nothing less
+than a death-grapple, especially as regards the shipping on the West
+Coast. If ships can not go from Liverpool to Seccondee and Lagos, then
+England herself is doomed. The possible contest appalls the imagination.
+At the same time the exploiting that now goes on in the world can not go
+on forever.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE NEGRO PROBLEM
+
+
+It is probably clear from our study in the preceding pages that the
+history of the Negro people in the United States falls into well defined
+periods or epochs. First of all there was the colonial era, extending
+from the time of the first coming of Negroes to the English colonies to
+that of the Revolutionary War. This divides into two parts, with a line
+coming at the year 1705. Before this date the exact status of the Negro
+was more or less undefined; the system of servitude was only gradually
+passing into the sterner one of slavery; and especially in the middle
+colonies there was considerable intermixture of the races. By the year
+1705, however, it had become generally established that the Negro was to
+be regarded not as a person but as a thing; and the next seventy years
+were a time of increasing numbers, but of no racial coherence or
+spiritual outlook, only a spasmodic insurrection here and there
+indicating the yearning for a better day. With the Revolution there came
+a change, and the second period extends from this war to the Civil War.
+This also divides into two parts, with a line at the year 1830. In the
+years immediately succeeding the Revolution there was put forth
+the first effective effort toward racial organization, this being
+represented by the work of such men as Richard Allen and Prince Hall;
+but, in spite of a new racial consciousness, the great mass of the Negro
+people remained in much the same situation as before, the increase in
+numbers incident to the invention of the cotton-gin only intensifying
+the ultimate problem. About the year 1830, however, the very hatred and
+ignominy that began to be visited upon the Negro indicated that at least
+he was no longer a thing but a person. Lynching began to grow apace,
+burlesque on the stage tended to depreciate and humiliate the race,
+and the South became definitely united in its defense of the system of
+slavery. On the other hand, the Abolitionists challenged the attitude
+that was becoming popular; the Negroes themselves began to be prosperous
+and to hold conventions; and Nat Turner's insurrection thrust baldly
+before the American people the great moral and economic problem with
+which they had to deal. With such divergent opinions, in spite of feeble
+attempts at compromise, there could be no peace until the issue of
+slavery at least was definitely settled. The third great period extends
+from the Civil War to the opening of the Great War in Europe. Like the
+others it also falls into two parts, the division coming at the year
+1895. The thirty years from 1865 to 1895 may be regarded as an era
+in which the race, now emancipated, was mainly under the guidance of
+political ideals. Several men went to Congress and popular education
+began to be emphasized; but the difficulties of Reconstruction and the
+outrages of the KuKlux Klan were succeeded by an enveloping system of
+peonage, and by 1890-1895 the pendulum had swung fully backward and in
+the South disfranchisement had been arrived at as the concrete solution
+of the political phase of the problem. The twenty years from 1895 to
+1915 formed a period of unrest and violence, but also of solid economic
+and social progress, the dominant influence being the work of Booker T.
+Washington. With the world war the Negro people came face to face with
+new and vast problems of economic adjustment and passed into an entirely
+different period of their racial history in America.
+
+This is not all, however. The race is not to be regarded simply as
+existent unto itself. The most casual glance at any such account as we
+have given emphasizes the importance of the Negro in the general history
+of the United States. Other races have come, sometimes with great gifts
+or in great numbers, but it is upon this one that the country's history
+has turned as on a pivot. It is true that it has been despised and
+rejected, but more and more it seems destined to give new proof that the
+stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.
+In the colonial era it was the economic advantage of slavery over
+servitude that caused it to displace this institution as a system of
+labor. In the preliminary draft of the Declaration of Independence a
+noteworthy passage arraigned the king of England for his insistence upon
+the slave-trade, but this was later suppressed for reasons of policy.
+The war itself revealed clearly the fallacy of the position of the
+patriots, who fought for their rights as Englishmen but not for the
+fundamental rights of man; and their attitude received formal expression
+in the compromises that entered into the Constitution. The expansion of
+the Southwest depended on the labor of the Negro, whose history became
+inextricably bound up with that of the cotton-gin; and the question or
+the excuse of fugitives was the real key to the Seminole Wars. The long
+struggle culminating in the Civil War was simply to settle the status of
+the Negro in the Republic; and the legislation after the war determined
+for a generation the history not only of the South but very largely of
+the nation as well. The later disfranchising acts have had overwhelming
+importance, the unfair system of national representation controlling the
+election of 1916 and thus the attitude of America in the world war.
+
+This is an astonishing phenomenon--this vast influence of a people
+oppressed, proscribed, and scorned. The Negro is so dominant in American
+history not only because he tests the real meaning of democracy, not
+only because he challenges the conscience of the nation, but also
+because he calls in question one's final attitude toward human nature
+itself. As we have seen, it is not necessarily the worker, not even
+the criminal, who makes the ultimate problem, but the simple Negro of
+whatever quality. If this man did not have to work at all, and if his
+race did not include a single criminal, in American opinion he would
+still raise a question. It is accordingly from the social standpoint
+that we must finally consider the problem. Before we can do this we need
+to study the race as an actual living factor in American life; and even
+before we do that it might be in order to observe the general importance
+of the Negro to-day in any discussion of the racial problems of the
+world.
+
+
+1. _World Aspect_
+
+Any consideration of the Negro Problem in its world aspect at the
+present time must necessarily be very largely concerned with Africa as
+the center of the Negro population. This in turn directs attention to
+the great colonizing powers of Europe, and especially to Great Britain
+as the chief of these; and the questions that result are of far-reaching
+importance for the whole fabric of modern civilization. No one can
+gainsay the tremendous contribution that England has made to the world;
+every one must respect a nation that produced Wycliffe and Shakespeare
+and Darwin, and that, standing for democratic principles, has so often
+stayed the tide of absolutism and anarchy; and it is not without desert
+that for three hundred years this country has held the moral leadership
+of mankind. It may now not unreasonably be asked, however, if it has not
+lost some of its old ideals, and if further insistence upon some of its
+policies would not constitute a menace to all that the heart of humanity
+holds dear.
+
+As a preliminary to our discussion let us remark two men by way of
+contrast. A little more than seventy years ago a great traveler set
+out upon the first of three long journeys through central and southern
+Africa. He was a renowned explorer, and yet to him "the end of the
+geographical feat was only the beginning of the enterprise." Said Henry
+Drummond of him: "Wherever David Livingstone's footsteps are crossed in
+Africa the fragrance of his memory seems to remain." On one occasion
+a hunter was impaled on the horn of a rhinoceros, and a messenger ran
+eight miles for the physician. Although he himself had been wounded for
+life by a lion and his friends said that he should not ride at night
+through a wood infested with beasts, Livingstone insisted on his
+Christian duty to go, only to find that the man had died and to be
+obliged to retrace his footsteps. Again and again his party would
+have been destroyed if it had not been for his own unbounded tact and
+courage, and after his death at Chitambo's village Susi and Chuma
+journeyed for nine months and over eight hundred miles to take his body
+to the coast. "We work for a glorious future," said he, "which we are
+not destined to see--the golden age which has not been, but will yet be.
+We are only morning-stars shining in the dark, but the glorious morn
+will break, the good time coming yet. For this time we work; may God
+accept our imperfect service."
+
+About the time that Livingstone was passing off the scene another strong
+man, one of England's "empire builders," began his famous career. Going
+first to South Africa as a young man in quest of health, Cecil Rhodes
+soon made a huge fortune out of Kimberley diamonds and Transvaal gold,
+and by 1890 had become the Prime Minister of Cape Colony. In the pursuit
+of his aims he was absolutely unscrupulous. He refused to recognize any
+rights of the Portuguese in Matabeleland and Mashonaland; he drove hard
+bargains with the Germans and the French; he defied the Boers; and to
+him the native Africans were simply so many tools for the heaping up of
+gold. Nobody ever said of him that he left a "fragrant memory" behind
+him; but thousands of bruised bodies and broken hearts bore witness to
+his policy. According to the ideals of modern England, however, he was
+a great man. What the Negro in the last analysis wonders is: Who was
+right, Livingstone or Rhodes? And which is the world to choose, Christ
+or Mammon?
+
+There are two fundamental assumptions upon which all so-called Western
+civilization is based--that of racial and that of religious superiority.
+Sight has been lost of the fact that there is really no such thing as a
+superior race, that only individuals are superior one to another, and a
+popular English poet has sung of "the white man's burden" and of "lesser
+breeds without the law." These two assumptions have accounted for all of
+the misunderstanding that has arisen between the West and the East, for
+China and Japan, India and Egypt can not see by what divine right men
+from the West suppose that they have the only correct ancestry or by
+what conceit they presume to have the only true faith. Let them but be
+accepted, however, let a nation be led by them as guiding-stars, and
+England becomes justified in forcing her system upon India, she finds it
+necessary to send missionaries to Japan, and the lion's paw pounces upon
+the very islands of the sea.
+
+The whole world, however, is now rising as never before against any
+semblance of selfishness on the part of great powers, and it is more
+than ever clear that before there can be any genuine progress toward the
+brotherhood of man, or toward comity among nations, one man will have
+to give some consideration to the other man's point of view. One people
+will have to respect another people's tradition. The Russo-Japanese War
+gave men a new vision. The whole world gazed upon a new power in the
+East--one that could be dealt with only upon equal terms. Meanwhile
+there was unrest in India, and in Africa there were insurrections
+of increasing bitterness and fierceness. Africa especially had been
+misrepresented. The people were all said to be savages and cannibals,
+almost hopelessly degraded. The traders and the politicians knew better.
+They knew that there were tribes and tribes in Africa, that many of the
+chiefs were upright and wise and proud of their tradition, and that the
+land could not be seized any too quickly. Hence they made haste to get
+into the game.
+
+It is increasingly evident also that the real leadership of the world is
+a matter not of race, not even of professed religion, but of principle.
+Within the last hundred years, as science has flourished and
+colonization grown, we have been led astray by materialism. The worship
+of the dollar has become a fetish, and the man or the nation that had
+the money felt that it was ordained of God to rule the universe. Germany
+was led astray by this belief, but it is England, not Germany, that has
+most thoroughly mastered the _Art of Colonization_. Crown colonies are
+to be operated in the interest of the owners. Jingoism is king. It
+matters not that the people in India and Africa, in Hayti and the
+Philippines, object to our benevolence; _we_ know what is good for them
+and therefore they should be satisfied.
+
+In Jamaica to-day the poorer people can not get employment; and yet,
+rather than accept the supply at hand, the powers of privilege import
+"coolie" labor, a still cheaper supply. In Sierra Leone, where certainly
+there has been time to see the working of the principle, native young
+men crowd about the wharves and seize any chance to earn a penny, simply
+because there is no work at hand to do--nothing that would genuinely
+nourish independence and self-respect.
+
+It is not strange that the worship of industrialism, with its attendant
+competition, finally brought about the most disastrous war in history
+and such a breakdown of all principles of morality as made the whole
+world stand aghast. Womanhood was no longer sacred; old ideas of ethics
+vanished; Christ himself was crucified again--everything holy and lovely
+was given to the grasping demon of Wealth.
+
+Suddenly men realized that England had lost the moral leadership of the
+world. Lured by the ideals of Rhodes, the country that gave to mankind
+_Magna Charta_ seemed now bent only on its own aggrandizement and
+preservation. Germany's colonies were seized, and anything that
+threatened the permanence of the dominant system, especially unrest on
+the part of the native African, was throttled. Briton and Boer began
+to feel an identity of interest, and especially was it made known that
+American Negroes were not wanted.
+
+Just what the situation is to-day may be illustrated by the simple
+matter of foreign missions, the policy of missionary organizations in
+both England and America being dictated by the political policy of the
+empire. The appointing of Negroes by the great American denominations
+for service in Africa has practically ceased, for American Negroes are
+not to be admitted to any portion of the continent except Liberia,
+which, after all, is a very small part of the whole. For the time being
+the little republic seems to receive countenance from the great powers
+as a sort of safety-valve through which the aspiration of the Negro
+people might spend itself; but it is evident that the present
+understanding is purely artificial and can not last. Even the Roman
+Empire declined, and Germany lost her hold in Africa overnight. Of
+course it may be contended that the British Empire to-day is not
+decadent but stronger than ever. At the same time there can be no doubt
+that Englishman and Boer alike regard these teeming millions of prolific
+black people always with concern and sometimes with dismay. Natives of
+the Congo still bear the marks of mutilation, and men in South Africa
+chafe under unjust land acts and constant indignities in their daily
+life.
+
+Here rises the question for our own country. To the United States at
+last has come that moral leadership--that obligation to do the right
+thing--that opportunity to exhibit the highest honor in all affairs
+foreign or domestic--that is the ultimate test of greatness. Is America
+to view this great problem in Africa sympathetically and find some place
+for the groping for freedom of millions of human beings, or is she to be
+simply a pawn in the game of English colonization? Is she to abide by
+the principles that guided her in 1776, or simply seize her share of
+the booty? The Negro either at home or abroad is only one of many
+moral problems with which she has to deal. At the close of the war
+extravagance reigned, crime was rampant, and against any one of three or
+four races there was insidious propaganda. To add to the difficulties,
+the government was still so dominated by politics and officialdom that
+it was almost always impossible to get things done at the time they
+needed to be done. At the same time every patriot knows that America is
+truly the hope of the world. Into her civilization and her glory have
+entered not one but many races. All go forth against a common enemy; all
+should share the duties and the privileges of citizenship. In such
+a country the law can know no difference of race or class or creed,
+provided all are devoted to the general welfare. Such is the obligation
+resting upon the United States--such the challenge of social, economic,
+and moral questions such as never before faced the children of men. That
+she be worthy of her opportunity all would pray; to the fulfilment of
+her destiny all should help. The eyes of the world are upon her; the
+scepter of the ages is in her hand.
+
+
+2. _The Negro in American Life_
+
+If now we come to the Negro in the United States, it is hardly an
+exaggeration to say that no other race in the American body politic, not
+even the Anglo-Saxon, has been studied more critically than this one,
+and treatment has varied all the way from the celebration of virtues
+to the bitterest hostility and malignity. It is clearly fundamentally
+necessary to pay some attention to racial characteristics and gifts.
+In recent years there has been much discussion from the standpoint
+of biology, and special emphasis has been placed on the emotional
+temperament of the race. The Negro, however, submits that in the United
+States he has not been chiefly responsible for such miscegenation as has
+taken place; but he is not content to rest simply upon a _tu quoque_.
+He calls attention to the fact that whereas it has been charged that
+lynchings find their excuse in rape, it has been shown again and again
+that this crime is the excuse for only one-fourth or one-fifth of
+the cases of violence. If for the moment we suppose that there is
+no question about guilt in a fourth or a fifth of the cases, the
+overwhelming fraction that remains indicates that there are other
+factors of the highest importance that have to be considered in any
+ultimate adjustment of the situation. In every case accordingly the
+Negro asks only for a fair trial in court--not too hurried; and he knows
+that in many instances a calm study of the facts will reveal nothing
+more than fright or hysteria on the part of a woman or even other
+circumstances not more incriminating.
+
+Unfortunately the whole question of the Negro has been beclouded by
+misrepresentation as has no other social question before the American
+people, and the race asks simply first of all that the tissue of
+depreciation raised by prejudice be done away with in order that it may
+be judged and estimated for its quality. America can make no charges
+against any element of her population while she denies the fundamental
+right of citizenships--the protection of the individual person. Too
+often mistakes are made, and no man is so humble or so low that he
+should be deprived of his life without due process of law. The Negro
+undoubtedly has faults. At the same time, in order that his gifts may
+receive just consideration, the tradition of burlesque must for the time
+being be forgotten. All stories about razors, chickens, and watermelons
+must be relegated to the rear; and even the revered and beloved "black
+mammy" must receive an affectionate but a long farewell.
+
+The fact is that the Negro has such a contagious brand of humor that
+many people never realize that this plays only on the surface. The real
+background of the race is one of tragedy. It is not in current jest but
+in the wail of the old melodies that the soul of this people is found.
+There is something elemental about the heart of the race, something that
+finds its origin in the forest and in the falling of the stars. There is
+something grim about it too, something that speaks of the lash, of the
+child torn from its mother's bosom, of the dead body swinging at night
+by the roadside. The race has suffered, and in its suffering lies its
+destiny and its contribution to America; and hereby hangs a tale.
+
+If we study the real quality of the Negro we shall find that two things
+are observable. One is that any distinction so far won by a member of
+the race in America has been almost always in some one of the arts; and
+the other is that any influence so far exerted by the Negro on American
+civilization has been primarily in the field of æsthetics. The reason
+is not far to seek, and is to be found in the artistic striving even of
+untutored Negroes. The instinct for beauty insists upon an outlet, and
+if one can find no better picture he will paste a circus poster or a
+flaring advertisement on the wall. Very few homes have not at least a
+geranium on the windowsill or a rosebush in the garden. If we look at
+the matter conversely we shall find that those things which are most
+picturesque make to the Negro the readiest appeal. Red is his favorite
+color simply because it is the most pronounced of all colors. The
+principle holds in the sphere of religion. In some of our communities
+Negroes are known to "get happy" in church. It is, however, seldom a
+sermon on the rule of faith or the plan of salvation that awakens such
+ecstasy, but rather a vivid portrayal of the beauties of heaven, with
+the walls of jasper, the feast of milk and honey, and the angels with
+palms in their hands. The appeal is primarily sensuous, and it is hardly
+too much to say that the Negro is thrilled not so much by the moral as
+by the artistic and pictorial elements in religion. Every member of the
+race is an incipient poet, and all are enthralled by music and oratory.
+
+Illustrations are abundant. We might refer to the oratory of Douglass,
+to the poetry of Dunbar, to the picturesque style of DuBois, to the
+mysticism of the paintings of Tanner, to the tragic sculpture of Meta
+Warrick Fuller, and to a long line of singers and musicians. Even
+Booker Washington, most practical of Americans, proves the point, the
+distinguishing qualities of his speeches being anecdote and vivid
+illustration. It is best, however, to consider members of the race who
+were entirely untaught in the schools. On one occasion Harriet Tubman,
+famous for her work in the Underground Railroad, was addressing an
+audience and describing a great battle in the Civil War. "And then,"
+said she, "we saw the lightning, and that was the guns; and then we
+heard the thunder, and that was the big guns; and then we heard the rain
+falling, and that was drops of blood falling; and when we came to git in
+the craps, it was dead men that we reaped." Two decades after the war
+John Jasper, of Richmond, Virginia, astonished the most intelligent
+hearers by the power of his imagery. He preached not only that the "sun
+do move," but also of "dry bones in the valley," the glories of the New
+Jerusalem, and on many similar subjects that have been used by other
+preachers, sometimes with hardly less effect, throughout the South. In
+his own way Jasper was an artist. He was eminently imaginative; and it
+is with this imaginative--this artistic--quality that America has yet to
+reckon.
+
+The importance of the influence has begun to be recognized, and on the
+principle that to him that hath shall be given, in increasing measure
+the Negro is being blamed for the ills of American life, a ready excuse
+being found in the perversion and debasement of Negro music. We have
+seen discussions whose reasoning, condensed, was somewhat as follows:
+The Negro element is daily becoming more potent in American society;
+American society is daily becoming more immoral; therefore at the door
+of the Negro may be laid the increase in divorce and all the other
+evils of society. The most serious charge brought against the Negro
+intellectually is that he has not yet developed the great creative or
+organizing mind that points the way of civilization. He most certainly
+has not, and in this he is not very unlike all the other people in
+America. The whole country is still in only the earlier years of its
+striving. While the United States has made great advance in applied
+science, she has as yet produced no Shakespeare or Beethoven. If America
+has not yet reached her height after three hundred years of striving,
+she ought not to be impatient with the Negro after only sixty years
+of opportunity. But all signs go to prove the assumption of limited
+intellectual ability fundamentally false. Already some of the younger
+men of the race have given the highest possible promise.
+
+If all of this, however, is granted, and if the Negro's exemplification
+of the principle of self-help is also recognized, the question still
+remains: Just what is the race worth as a constructive factor in
+American civilization? Is it finally to be an agency for the upbuilding
+of the nation, or simply one of the forces that retard? What is its real
+promise in American life?
+
+In reply to this it might be worth while to consider first of all
+the country's industrial life. The South, and very largely the whole
+country, depends upon Negro men and women as the stable labor supply in
+such occupations as farming, saw-milling, mining, cooking, and washing.
+All of this is hard work, and necessary work. In 1910, of 3,178,554
+Negro men at work, 981,922 were listed as farm laborers and 798,509 as
+farmers. That is to say, 56 per cent of the whole number were engaged in
+raising farm products either on their own account or by way of assisting
+somebody else, and the great staples of course were the cotton and corn
+of the Southern states. If along with the farmers we take those engaged
+in the occupations employing the next greatest numbers of men--those of
+the building and hand trades, saw and planing mills, as well as those
+of railway firemen and porters, draymen, teamsters, and coal mine
+operatives--we shall find a total of 71.2 per cent engaged in such work
+as represents the very foundation of American industry. Of the women at
+work, 1,047,146, or 52 per cent, were either farm laborers or farmers,
+and 28 per cent more were either cooks or washerwomen. In other words, a
+total of exactly 80 per cent were engaged in some of the hardest and at
+the same time some of the most vital labor in our home and industrial
+life. The new emphasis on the Negro as an industrial factor in the
+course of the recent war is well known. When immigration ceased, upon
+his shoulders very largely fell the task of keeping the country and the
+army alive. Since the war closed he has been on the defensive in the
+North; but a country that wishes to consider all of the factors that
+enter into its gravest social problem could never forget his valiant
+service in 1918. Let any one ask, moreover, even the most prejudiced
+observer, if he would like to see every Negro in the country out of it,
+and he will then decide whether economically the Negro is a liability or
+an asset.
+
+Again, consider the Negro soldier. In all our history there are no pages
+more heroic, more pathetic, than those detailing the exploits of black
+men. We remember the Negro, three thousand strong, fighting for the
+liberties of America when his own race was still held in bondage. We
+remember the deeds at Port Hudson, Fort Pillow, and Fort Wagner. We
+remember Santiago and San Juan Hill, not only how Negro men went
+gallantly to the charge, but how a black regiment faced pestilence that
+the ranks of their white comrades might not be decimated. And then
+Carrizal. Once more, at an unexpected moment, the heart of the nation
+was thrilled by the troopers of the Tenth Cavalry. Once more, despite
+Brownsville, the tradition of Fort Wagner was preserved and passed on.
+And then came the greatest of all wars. Again was the Negro summoned to
+the colors--summoned out of all proportion to his numbers. Others might
+desert, but not he; others might be spies or strikers, but not he--not
+he in the time of peril. In peace or war, in victory or danger, he has
+always been loyal to the Stars and Stripes.
+
+Not only, however, does the Negro give promise by reason of his economic
+worth; not only does he deserve the fullest rights of citizenship on
+the basis of his work as a soldier; he brings nothing less than a great
+spiritual contribution to civilization in America. His is a race of
+enthusiasm, imagination, and spiritual fervor; and after all the doubt
+and fear through which it has passed there still rests with it an
+abiding faith in God. Around us everywhere are commercialism, politics,
+graft--sordidness, selfishness, cynicism. We need hope and love, a new
+birth of idealism, a new faith in the unseen. Already the work of some
+members of the race has pointed the way to great things in the realm of
+conscious art; but above even art soars the great world of the spirit.
+This it is that America most sadly needs; this it is that her most
+fiercely persecuted children bring to her.
+
+Obviously now if the Negro, if any race, is to make to America the
+contribution of which it is capable, it must be free; and this raises
+the whole question of relation to the rest of the body politic. One of
+the interesting phenomena of society in America is that the more foreign
+elements enter into the "melting pot" and advance in culture, the more
+do they cling to their racial identity. Incorporation into American
+life, instead of making the Greek or the Pole or the Irishman forget his
+native country, makes him all the more jealous of its traditions. The
+more a center of any one of these nationalities develops, the more
+wealthy and cultured its members become, the more do we find them proud
+of the source from which they sprang. The Irishman is now so much an
+American that he controls whole wards in our large cities, and sometimes
+the cities themselves. All the same he clings more tenaciously than ever
+to the celebration of March 17. When an isolated Greek came years ago,
+poor and friendless, nobody thought very much about him, and he
+effaced himself as much as possible, taking advantage, however, of any
+opportunity that offered for self-improvement or economic advance. When
+thousands came and the newcomers could take inspiration from those of
+their brothers who had preceded them and achieved success, nationality
+asserted itself. Larger groups now talked about Venizelos and a greater
+Greece; their chests expanded at the thought of Marathon and Plato; and
+companies paraded amid applause as they went to fight in the Balkans. In
+every case, with increasing intelligence and wealth, race pride asserted
+itself. At the same time no one would think of denying to the Greek or
+the Irishman or the Italian his full rights as an American citizen.
+
+It is a paradox indeed, this thing of a race's holding its identity
+at the same time that it is supposed to lose this in the larger
+civilization. Apply the principle to the Negro. Very soon after the
+Civil War, when conditions were chaotic and ignorance was rampant, the
+ideals constantly held before the race were those of white people. Some
+leaders indeed measured success primarily by the extent to which they
+became merged in the white man's life. At the time this was very
+natural. A struggling people wished to show that it could be judged by
+the standards of the highest civilization within sight, and it did so.
+To-day the tide has changed. The race now numbers a few millionaires. In
+almost every city there are beautiful homes owned by Negroes. Some men
+have reached high attainment in scholarship, and the promise grows
+greater and greater in art and science. Accordingly the Negro now loves
+his own, cherishes his own, teaches his boys about black heroes, and
+honors and glorifies his own black women. Schools and churches and all
+sorts of coöperative enterprises testify to the new racial self-respect,
+while a genuine Negro drama has begun to flourish. A whole people has
+been reborn; a whole race has found its soul.
+
+
+3. _Face to Face_
+
+Even when all that has been said is granted, it is still sometimes
+maintained that the Negro is the one race that can not and will not
+be permitted to enter into the full promise of American life. Other
+elements, it is said, even if difficult to assimilate, may gradually be
+brought into the body politic, but the Negro is the one element that
+may be tolerated but not assimilated, utilized but not welcomed to the
+fullness of the country's glory.
+
+However, the Negro has no reason to be discouraged. If one will but
+remember that after all slavery was but an incident and recall the
+status of the Negro even in the free states ten years before the Civil
+War, he will be able to see a steady line of progress forward. After the
+great moral and economic awakening that gave the race its freedom, the
+pendulum swung backward, and finally it reached its farthest point of
+proscription, of lawlessness, and inhumanity. No obscuring of the vision
+for the time being should blind us to the reading of the great movement
+of history.
+
+To-day in the whole question of the Negro problem there are some matters
+of pressing and general importance. One that is constantly thrust
+forward is that of the Negro criminal. On this the answer is clear. If a
+man--Negro or otherwise--is a criminal, he is an enemy of society, and
+society demands that he be placed where he will do the least harm. If
+execution is necessary, this should take place in private; and in no
+case should the criminal be so handled as to corrupt the morals or
+arouse the morbid sensibilities of the populace. At the same time simple
+patriotism would demand that by uplifting home surroundings, good
+schools, and wholesome recreation everything possible be done for Negro
+children as for other children of the Republic, so that just as few of
+them as possible may graduate into the criminal class.
+
+Another matter, closely akin to this, is that of the astonishing lust
+for torture that more and more is actuating the American people. When in
+1835 McIntosh was burned in St. Louis for the murder of an officer, the
+American people stood aghast, and Abraham Lincoln, just coming into
+local prominence, spoke as if the very foundations of the young republic
+had been shaken. After the Civil War, however, horrible lynchings became
+frequent; and within the last decade we have seen a Negro boy stabbed in
+numberless places while on his way to the stake, we have seen the eyes
+of a Negro man burned out with hot irons and pieces of his flesh cut
+off, and a Negro woman--whose only offense was a word of protest against
+the lynching of her husband--while in the state of advanced pregnancy
+hanged head downwards, her clothing burned from her body, and herself so
+disemboweled that her unborn babe fell to the ground. We submit that
+any citizens who commit such deeds as these are deserving of the most
+serious concern of their country; and when they bring their little
+children to behold their acts--when baby fingers handle mutilated flesh
+and baby eyes behold such pictures as we have suggested--a crime has
+been committed against the very name of childhood. Most frequently it
+will be found that the men who do these things have had only the most
+meager educational advantages, and that generally--but not always--they
+live in remote communities, away from centers of enlightenment, so that
+their whole course of life is such as to cultivate provincialism. With
+not the slightest touch of irony whatever we suggest that these men need
+a crusade of education in books and in the fundamental obligations of
+citizenship. At present their ignorance, their prejudice, and their lack
+of moral sense constitute a national menace.
+
+It is full time to pause. We have already gone too far. The Negro
+problem is only an index to the ills of society in America. In our haste
+to get rich or to meet new conditions we are in danger of losing all of
+our old standards of conduct, of training, and of morality. Our courts
+need to summon a new respect for themselves. The average citizen knows
+only this about them, that he wants to keep away from them. So far we
+have not been assured of justice. The poor man has not stood an equal
+chance with the rich, nor the black with the white. Money has been
+freely used, even for the changing of laws if need be; and the
+sentencing of a man of means generally means only that he will have a
+new trial. The murders in any American city average each year fifteen or
+twenty times as many as in an English or French city of the same size.
+Our churches need a new baptism; they have lost the faith. The same
+principle applies in our home-life, in education, in literature. The
+family altar is almost extinct; learning is more easy than sound; and
+in literature as in other forms of art any passing fad is able to gain
+followers and pose as worthy achievement. All along the line we need
+more uprightness--more strength. Even when a man has committed a crime,
+he must receive justice in court. Within recent years we have heard too
+much about "speedy trials," which are often nothing more than legalized
+lynchings. If it has been decreed that a man is to wait for a trial one
+week or one year, the mob has nothing to do with the matter, and, if
+need be, all the soldiery of the United States must be called forth to
+prevent the storming of a jail. Fortunately the last few years have
+shown us several sheriffs who had this conception of their duty.
+
+In the last analysis this may mean that more responsibility and more
+force will have to be lodged in the Federal Government. Within recent
+years the dignity of the United States has been seriously impaired.
+The time seems now to have come when the Government must make a new
+assertion of its integrity and its authority. No power in the country
+can be stronger than that of the United States of America.
+
+For the time being, then, this is what we need--a stern adherence to
+law. If men will not be good, they must at least be made to behave. No
+one will pretend, however, that an adjustment on such a basis is finally
+satisfactory. Above the law of the state--above all law of man--is the
+law of God. It was given at Sinai thousands of years ago. It received
+new meaning at Calvary. To it we must all yet come. The way may be hard,
+and in the strife of the present the time may seem far distant; but some
+day the Messiah will reign and man to man the world over shall brothers
+be "for a' that."
+
+
+
+
+SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+
+Unless an adequate volume is to be devoted to the work, any bibliography
+of the history of the Negro Problem in the United States must be
+selective. No comprehensive work is in existence. Importance attaches to
+_Select List of References on the Negro Question_, compiled under the
+direction of A.P.C. Griffin, Library of Congress, Washington, 1903; _A
+Select Bibliography of the Negro American_, edited by W.E.B. DuBois,
+Atlanta, 1905, and _The Negro Problem: a Bibliography_, edited by Vera
+Sieg, Free Library Commission, Madison, Wis., 1908; but all such lists
+have to be supplemented for more recent years. Compilations on the
+Abolition Movement, the early education of the Negro, and the literary
+and artistic production of the race are to be found respectively in
+Hart's _Slavery and Abolition_, Woodson's _The Education of the Negro
+prior to 1861_, and Brawley's _The Negro in Literature and Art_, and the
+_Journal of Negro History_ is constantly suggestive of good material.
+
+The bibliography that follows is confined to the main question. First of
+all are given general references, and then follows a list of individual
+authors and books. Finally, there are special lists on topics on which
+the study in the present work is most intensive. In a few instances
+books that are superficial in method or prejudiced in tone have been
+mentioned as it has seemed necessary to try to consider all shades of
+opinion even if the expression was not always adequate. On the other
+hand, not every source mentioned in the footnotes is included, for
+sometimes these references are merely incidental; and especially does
+this apply in the case of lectures or magazine articles, some of which
+were later included in books. Nor is there any reference to works of
+fiction. These are frequently important, and books of unusual interest
+are sometimes considered in the body of the work; but in such a study as
+the present imaginative literature can be hardly more than a secondary
+and a debatable source of information.
+
+
+
+
+SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+
+I. General References
+
+(Mainly in Collections, Sets, or Series)
+
+Statutes at Large, being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia from
+the first session of the Legislature, in the year 1619, by William
+Waller Hening. Richmond, 1819-20.
+
+Laws of the State of North Carolina, compiled by Henry Potter, J.L.
+Taylor, and Bart. Yancey. Raleigh, 1821.
+
+The Statutes at Large of South Carolina, edited by Thomas Cooper.
+Columbia, 1837.
+
+The Pro-Slavery Argument (as maintained by the most distinguished
+writers of the Southern states). Charleston, 1852.
+
+Files of such publications as Niles's _Weekly Register_, the _Genius
+of Universal Emancipation_, the _Liberator_, and DeBow's _Commercial
+Review_, in the period before the Civil War; and of the _Crisis_,
+the _Journal of Negro History_, the _Negro Year-Book_, the _Virginia
+Magazine of History_, the _Review of Reviews_, the _Literary Digest_,
+the _Independent_, the _Outlook_, as well as representative newspapers
+North and South and weekly Negro newspapers in later years.
+
+Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science
+(some numbers important for the present work noted below).
+
+Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law edited by the Faculty of
+Political Science of Columbia University (some numbers important for the
+present work noted below).
+
+Atlanta University Studies of Negro Problems (for unusually important
+numbers note DuBois, editor, below, also Bigham).
+
+Occasional Papers of the American Negro Academy (especially note
+Cromwell in special list No. 1 below and Grimké in No. 3).
+
+Census Reports of the United States; also Publications of the Bureau of
+Education.
+
+Annual Reports of the General Education Board, the John F. Slater Fund,
+the Jeanes Fund; reports and pamphlets issued by American Missionary
+Association, American Baptist Home Mission Society, Freedmen's Aid
+Society, etc.; catalogues of representative educational institutions;
+and a volume "From Servitude to Service" (the Old South lectures on
+representative educational institutions for the Negro), Boston, 1905.
+
+Pamphlets and reports of National Association for the Advancement of
+Colored People, the National Urban League, the Southern Sociological
+Congress, the University Commission on Southern Race Questions, Hampton
+Conference reports, 1897-1907, and Proceedings of the National Negro
+Business League, annual since 1900.
+
+The American Nation: A History from Original Sources by Associated
+Scholars, edited by Albert Bushnell Hart. 27 vols. Harper & Bros., New
+York, 1907. (Volumes important for the present work specially noted
+below.)
+
+The Chronicles of America. A Series of Historical Narratives edited
+by Allen Johnson. 50 vols. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1918--.
+(Volumes important for the present work specially noted below.)
+
+The South in the Building of the Nation. 12 vols. The Southern
+Publication Society. Richmond, Va., 1909.
+
+Studies in Southern History and Politics. Columbia University Press, New
+York, 1914.
+
+New International and Americana Encyclopedias (especially on such topics
+as Africa, the Negro, and Negro Education).
+
+
+II. INDIVIDUAL WORKS
+
+(Note pamphlets at end of list; also special lists under III below.)
+
+Adams, Alice Dana: The Neglected Period of Anti-Slavery in
+America (1808-1831), Radcliffe College Monograph No. 14.
+Boston, 1908 (now handled by Harvard University Press).
+
+Adams, Henry: History of the United States from 1801 to 1817. 9
+vols. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1889-90.
+
+Alexander, William T.: History of the Colored Race in America.
+Palmetto Publishing Co., New Orleans, 1887.
+
+Armistead, Wilson: A Tribute for the Negro, being a Vindication
+of the Moral, Intellectual, and Religious Capabilities of the Colored
+Portion of Mankind, with particular reference to the African
+race, illustrated by numerous biographical sketches, facts,
+anecdotes, etc., and many superior portraits and engravings.
+Manchester, 1848.
+
+Baker, Ray Stannard: Following the Color Line. Doubleday, Page
+& Co., New York, 1908.
+
+Ballagh, James Curtis: A History of Slavery in Virginia. Johns
+Hopkins Studies, extra volume 24. Baltimore, 1902.
+
+  White Servitude in the Colony of Virginia. Johns Hopkins Studies,
+  Thirteenth Series, Nos. 6 and 7. Baltimore, 1895.
+
+Bassett, John Spencer: Anti-Slavery Leaders of North Carolina.
+Sixth Series, No. 6. Baltimore, 1898.
+
+  Slavery and Servitude in the Colony of North Carolina. Johns Hopkins
+  Studies, Fourteenth Series, Nos. 4 and 5. Baltimore, 1896.
+
+  Slavery in the State of North Carolina. Johns Hopkins Studies, XIV:
+  179; XVII: 323.
+
+Bigham, John Alvin (editor): Select Discussions of Race Problems,
+No. 20, of Atlanta University Publications. Atlanta, 1916.
+
+Birney, William: James G. Birney and His Times. D. Appleton &
+Co., New York, 1890.
+
+Blake, W.O.: The History of Slavery and the Slave-Trade. Columbus,
+O., 1861.
+
+Blyden, Edward W.: Christianity, Islam, and the Negro Race. London,
+1887.
+
+Bogart, Ernest Ludlow: The Economic History of the United States.
+Longmans, Green & Co., New York, 1918 edition.
+
+Bourne, Edward Gaylord: Spain in America, 1450-1580. Vol. 3 of
+American Nation Series.
+
+Brackett, Jeffrey Richardson: The Negro in Maryland: A Study of
+the Institution of Slavery. Johns Hopkins Studies, extra volume
+6. Baltimore, 1889.
+
+Bradford, Sarah H.: Harriet, the Moses of Her People. New York,
+1886.
+
+Brawley, Benjamin: A Short History of the American Negro. The
+Macmillan Co., New York, 1913, revised 1919.
+
+  History of Morehouse College. Atlanta, 1917.
+
+  The Negro in Literature and Art. Duffield & Co., New York, 1918.
+
+  Your Negro Neighbor (in Our National Problems series). The
+  Macmillan Co., New York, 1918.
+
+  Africa and the War. Duffield & Co., New York, 1918.
+
+  Women of Achievement (written for the Fireside Schools under
+  the auspices of the Woman's American Baptist Home Mission
+  Society). Chicago and New York, 1919.
+
+Brawley, Edward M.: The Negro Baptist Pulpit. American Baptist
+Publication Society, Philadelphia, 1890.
+
+Bruce, Philip Alexander: Economic History of Virginia in the
+Seventeenth Century. 2 vols. The Macmillan Co., New York,
+1896.
+
+Cable, George Washington: The Negro Question. Charles Scribner's
+Sons, New York, 1890.
+
+Calhoun, William Patrick: The Caucasian and the Negro in the
+United States. R.L. Bryan Co., Columbia, S. C, 1902.
+
+Chamberlain, D.H.: Present Phases of Our So-Called Negro Problem
+(open letter to the Rt. Hon. James Bryce of England), reprinted
+from _News and Courier_, Charleston, of August 1, 1904.
+
+Cheyney, Edward Potts: European Background of American History.
+Vol. I of American Nation Series.
+
+Child, Lydia Maria: An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans
+Called Africans. Boston, 1833.
+
+  The Oasis (edited). Boston, 1834.
+
+Clayton, V.V.: White and Black under the Old Regimé. Milwaukee,
+1899.
+
+Clowes, W. Laird: Black America: A Study of the Ex-Slave and
+His Late Master. Cassell & Co., London, 1891.
+
+Coffin, Joshua: An Account of Some of the Principal Slave Insurrections,
+and others, which have occurred, or been attempted, in the
+United States and elsewhere, during the last two centuries,
+with various remarks. American Anti-Slavery Society, New
+York, 1860.
+
+Collins, Winfield H.: The Domestic Slave Trade of the Southern
+States. Broadway Publishing Co., New York, 1904.
+
+Coman, Katherine: The Industrial History of the United States.
+The Macmillan Co., New York, 1918 edition.
+
+  The Negro as a Peasant Farmer. American Statistical Association
+  Publications, 1904:39.
+
+Commons, John R.: Races and Immigrants in America. The Macmillan
+Co., 1907.
+
+Coolidge, Archibald Cary: The United States as a World Power.
+The Macmillan Co., New York, 1918.
+
+Cooper, Anna Julia: A Voice from the South, by a black woman
+of the South. Xenia, O., 1892.
+
+Corey, Charles H.: A History of the Richmond Theological Seminary.
+Richmond, 1895.
+
+Cornish, Samuel E., and Wright, T.S.: The Colonization Scheme
+Considered in Its Rejection by the Colored People. Newark,
+1840.
+
+Cromwell, John W.: The Negro in American History. The American
+Negro Academy, Washington, 1914.
+
+Culp, Daniel W. (editor): Twentieth Century Negro Literature.
+Nichols & Co., Toronto, 1902.
+
+Cutler, James E.: Lynch Law, an Investigation into the History of
+Lynching in the United States. Longmans, Green & Co., New
+York, 1905.
+
+Daniels, John: In Freedom's Birthplace: A Study of the Boston
+Negroes. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston and New York, 1914.
+
+Dewey, Davis Rich: National Problems, 1885-1897. Vol. 24 in
+American Nation Series.
+
+Dill, Augustus Granville. See DuBois, editor Atlanta University
+Publications.
+
+Dodd, William E.: The Cotton Kingdom. Vol. 27 of Chronicles of
+America.
+
+  Expansion and Conflict. Vol. 3 of Riverside History of the United
+  States. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1915.
+
+Dow, Lorenzo ("Cosmopolite, a Listener"): A Cry from the Wilderness!
+A Voice from the East, A Reply from the West--Trouble in the
+North, Exemplifying in the South. Intended as a timely and
+solemn warning to the People of the United States. Printed
+for the Purchaser and the Public. United States, 1830.
+
+DuBois, W.E. Burghardt: Suppression of the African Slave-Trade.
+Longmans, Green & Co., New York, 1896 (now handled by Harvard
+University Press).
+
+DuBois, W.E. Burghardt: The Philadelphia Negro. University of
+Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1899.
+
+  The Souls of Black Folk. A.C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1903.
+  The Negro in the South (Booker T. Washington, co-author).
+
+  George W. Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia, 1907.
+
+  John Brown (in American Crisis Biographies). George W. Jacobs
+  & Co., Philadelphia, 1909.
+
+  The Negro (in Home University Library Series). Henry Holt &
+  Co., New York, 1915.
+
+  Darkwater: Voices from within the Veil. Harcourt, Brace &
+  Co., New York, 1920.
+
+  (Editor Atlanta University Publications).
+
+  The Negro Church, No. 8.
+
+  The Health and Physique of the Negro American, No. II.
+
+  Economic Co-operation among Negro Americans, No. 12.
+
+  The Negro American Family, No. 13.
+
+  Efforts for Social Betterment among Negro Americans, No. 14.
+  The College-Bred Negro American, No. 15. (A.G. Dill, co-editor.)
+
+  The Negro American Artisan, No. 17. (A.G. Dill, co-editor.)
+
+  Morals and Manners among Negro Americans, No. 18. (A.G.
+  Dill, co-editor.)
+
+Dunbar, Alice Ruth Moore: Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence. The
+Bookery Publishing Co., New York, 1914.
+
+Dunbar, Paul Laurence: Complete Poems. Dodd, Mead & Co., New
+York, 1913.
+
+Dunning, William Archibald: Reconstruction, Political and Economic.
+Vol. 22 of American Nation Series.
+
+Earnest, Joseph B., Jr.: The Religious Development of the Negro
+in Virginia (Ph.D. thesis, Virginia). Charlottesville, 1914.
+
+Eckenrode, Hamilton James: The Political History of Virginia
+during the Reconstruction. Johns Hopkins Studies. Twenty-second
+Series, Nos. 6, 7, and 8. Baltimore, 1904.
+
+Ellis, George W.: Negro Culture in West Africa. The Neale Publishing
+Co., New York, 1914.
+
+Ellwood, Charles A.: Sociology and Modern Social Problems. American
+Book Co., New York, 1910.
+
+Elwang, William W.: The Negroes of Columbia, Mo. (A.M. thesis,
+Missouri), 1904.
+
+Epstein, Abraham: The Negro Migrant in Pittsburgh (in publications
+of School of Economics of the University of Pittsburgh).
+1918.
+
+Evans, Maurice S.: Black and White in the Southern States: A
+Study of the Race Problem in the United States from a South
+African Point of View. Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1915.
+
+Ferris, William Henry: The African Abroad. 2 vols. New Haven,
+1913.
+
+Fleming, Walter L.: Documentary History of Reconstruction. 2
+vols. Arthur H. Clark Co., Cleveland, O., 1906.
+
+  The Sequel of Appomattox. Vol. 32 of Chronicles of America.
+
+Fletcher, Frank H.: Negro Exodus. Report of agent appointed by
+the St. Louis Commission to visit Kansas for the purpose of
+obtaining information in regard to colored emigration. No
+imprint.
+
+Furman, Richard: Exposition of the Views of the Baptists Relative
+to the Colored Population in the United States, in a communication
+to the Governor of South Carolina. Second edition, Charleston,
+1833. (Letter bears original date December 24, 1822; Furman
+was president of State Baptist Convention.)
+
+Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and Garrison, Francis Jackson: William
+Lloyd Garrison; Story of His Life Told by His Children. 4
+vols. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1894.
+
+Garrison, William Lloyd: Thoughts on African Colonization: or
+An Impartial Exhibition of the Doctrines, Principles, and Purposes
+of the American Colonization Society, together with the
+Resolutions, Addresses, and Remonstrances of the Free People
+of Color. Boston, 1832.
+
+Gayarré, Charles E.A.: History of Louisiana. 4 vols. New Orleans,
+1885 edition.
+
+Grady, Henry W.: The New South and Other Addresses, with
+biography, etc., by Edna H.L. Turpin. Maynard, Merrill & Co.,
+New York, 1904.
+
+Graham, Stephen: The Soul of John Brown. The Macmillan Co.,
+New York, 1920.
+
+Hallowell, Richard P.: Why the Negro was Enfranchised--Negro
+Suffrage Justified. Boston, 1903. (Reprint of two letters in the
+_Boston Herald_, March 11 and 26, 1903.)
+
+Hammond, Lily Hardy: In Black and White: An Interpretation of
+Southern Life. Fleming H. Revell Co., New York, 1914.
+
+Harris, Norman Dwight: Intervention and Colonization in Africa.
+Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, 1914.
+
+Hart, Albert Bushnell: National Ideals Historically Traced. Vol.
+26 in American Nation Series.
+
+  Slavery and Abolition. Vol. 16 in American Nation Series.
+
+  The Southern South. D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1910.
+
+Hartshorn, W.N., and Penniman, George W.: An Era of Progress
+and Promise, 1863-1910. The Priscilla Publishing Co., Boston,
+1910.
+
+Haworth, Paul Leland: America in Ferment. Bobbs-Merrill Co.,
+Indianapolis, 1915.
+
+Haynes, George E.: The Negro at Work in New York City Vol
+49, No. 3, of Columbia Studies, 1912.
+
+Helper, Hinton Rowan: The Impending Crisis of the South: How
+to Meet It. New York, 1857.
+
+Hickok, Charles T.: The Negro in Ohio, 1802-1870. (Western
+Reserve thesis.) Cleveland, 1896.
+
+Higginson, Thomas Wentworth: Army Life in a Black Regiment
+Boston, 1870. (Latest edition, Houghton, Mifflin Co., 1900.)
+
+Hoffman, Frederick L.: Race Traits and Tendencies of the American
+Negro. American Economics Association Publications, XI,
+Nos. 1-3, 1896.
+
+Hodge, Frederick W. (editor): Spanish Explorers in the Southern
+United States, 1528-1543 (in Original Narratives of Early American
+History), esp. The Narrative of Alvar Nuñez Cabeça de Vaca.
+Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1907.
+
+Holland, Edwin C.: A Refutation of the Calumnies circulated
+against the Southern and Western States, respecting the institution
+and existence of slavery among them; to which is added a minute
+and particular account of the actual condition and state of
+their Negro Population, together with Historical Notices of
+all the Insurrections that have taken place since the settlement
+of the country. By a South Carolinian. Charleston, 1822.
+
+Horsemanden, Daniel (Judge): A Journal of the Proceedings in
+the Detection of the Conspiracy Formed by Some White People,
+in conjunction with Negro and Other Slaves, for Burning the
+City of New York in America, and Murdering the Inhabitants.
+New York, 1744.
+
+Hosmer, James K.: The History of the Louisiana Purchase. D.
+Appleton & Co., New York, 1902.
+
+Hurd, John C.: The Law of Freedom and Bondage. 2 vols. Boston,
+1858-1862.
+
+Jay, William: Inquiry into the Character and Tendency of the American
+Colonization and Anti-Slavery Societies. New York, 1835.
+
+Jefferson, Thomas: Writings, issued under the auspices of the
+Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association. 20 vols. Washington,
+1903.
+
+Jervey, Theodore D.: Robert Y. Hayne and His Times. The Macmillan
+Co., New York, 1909.
+
+Johnson, Allen: Union and Democracy. Vol. 2 of Riverside History
+of the United States. Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, 1915.
+
+Johnson, James W.: Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (published
+anonymously). Sherman, French & Co., Boston, 1912.
+
+  Fifty Years and Other Poems. The Cornhill Co., Boston, 1917.
+
+  Hayti. Four articles reprinted from the _Nation_, New York, 1920.
+
+Johnston, Sir Harry Hamilton: The Negro in the New World. The
+Macmillan Co., New York, 1910.
+
+Kelsey, Carl: The Negro Farmer (Ph.D. thesis, Pennsylvania).
+Jennings & Pye, Chicago, 1903.
+
+Kemble, Frances A.: Journal of Residence on a Georgia Plantation,
+1838-1839. Harper & Bros., 1863.
+
+Kerlin, Robert T. (editor): The Voice of the Negro, 1919. E.P.
+Dutton & Co., New York, 1920.
+
+Kimball, John C.: Connecticut's Canterbury Tale; Its Heroine Prudence
+Crandall, and Its Moral for To-Day. Hartford, Conn. (1886).
+
+Krehbiel, Henry E.: Afro-American Folk-Songs. G. Schirmer, New
+York and London, 1914.
+
+Lauber, Almon Wheeler: Indian Slavery in Colonial Times within
+the Present Limits of the United States. Vol. 54, No. 3, of
+Columbia University Studies, 1913.
+
+Livermore, George: An Historical Research Respecting the Opinions
+of the Founders of the Republic on Negroes as Slaves, as
+Citizens, and as Soldiers. Boston, 1863.
+
+Locke, Mary Stoughton: Anti-Slavery in America from the Introduction
+of African Slaves to the Prohibition of the Slave-Trade,
+1619-1808. Radcliffe College Monograph No. 11. Boston, 1901
+(now handled by Harvard University Press).
+
+Lonn, Ella: Reconstruction in Louisiana. G.P. Putnam's Sons,
+New York, 1919.
+
+Lugard, Lady (Flora L. Shaw): A Tropical Dependency. James
+Nisbet & Co., Ltd., London, 1906.
+
+Lynch, John R.: The Facts of Reconstruction: The Neale Publishing
+Co., New York, 1913.
+
+McConnell, John Preston: Negroes and Their Treatment in Virginia
+from 1865 to 1867 (Ph.D. thesis, Virginia, 1905). Printed by
+B.D. Smith & Bros., Pulaski, Va., 1910.
+
+MacCorkle, William A.: Some Southern Questions. G.P. Putnam's
+Sons, New York, 1908.
+
+McCormac, E.I.: White Servitude in Maryland. Johns Hopkins
+Studies, XXII, 119.
+
+McDougall, Marion Gleason: Fugitive Slaves, 1619-1865. Fay
+House (Radcliffe College) Monograph, No. 3. Boston, 1891
+(now handled by Harvard University Press).
+
+McLaughlin, Andrew Cunningham: The Confederation and the
+Constitution, 1783-1789. Vol. 10 in American Nation Series.
+
+McMaster, John Bach: A History of the People of the United States,
+from the Revolution to the Civil War. 8 vols. D. Appleton &
+Co., New York, 1883-1913.
+
+Macy, Jesse: The Anti-Slavery Crusade. Vol. 28 in Chronicles of
+America.
+
+Marsh, J.B.T.: The Story of the Jubilee Singers, with their songs.
+Boston, 1880.
+
+Miller, Kelly: Race Adjustment. The Neale Publishing Co., New
+York and Washington, 1908.
+
+  Out of the House of Bondage. The Neale Publishing Co., New
+  York, 1914.
+
+  Appeal to Conscience (in Our National Problems Series). The
+  Macmillan Co., New York, 1913.
+
+Moore, G.H.: Historical Notes on the Employment of Negroes in
+the American Army of the Revolution. New York, 1862.
+
+Morgan, Thomas J.: Reminiscences of Service with Colored Troops
+in the Army of the Cumberland, 1863-65. Providence, 1885.
+
+Moton, Robert Russa: Finding a Way Out: An Autobiography.
+Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City, N.Y., 1920.
+
+Murphy, Edgar Gardner: The Basis of Ascendency. Longmans,
+Green & Co., London, 1909.
+
+Murray, Freeman H.M.: Emancipation and the Freed in American
+Sculpture. Published by the author, 1733 Seventh St., N.W.,
+Washington, 1916.
+
+Odum, Howard W.: Social and Mental Traits of the Negro. Columbia
+University Studies, Vol. 37, No. 3. New York, 1910.
+
+Olmsted, Frederick Law: The Cotton Kingdom. 2 vols. New York,
+1861.
+
+  A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States. New York, 1856.
+
+Page, Thomas Nelson: The Old South. Charles Scribner's Sons,
+New York, 1892.
+
+  The Negro: the Southerner's Problem. Charles Scribner's Sons,
+  New York, 1904.
+
+Palmer, B.M. (with W.T. Leacock): The Rights of the South
+Defended in the Pulpits. Mobile, 1860.
+
+Penniman, George W. See Hartshorn, W.N.
+
+Phillips, Ulrich B.: American Negro Slavery. D. Appleton & Co.,
+New York, 1918.
+
+  Plantation and Frontier. Vols. I and II of Documentary History
+  of American Industrial Society. Arthur H. Clark Co., Cleveland,
+  1910.
+
+Pike, G.D.: The Jubilee Singers and Their Campaign for $20,000.
+Boston, 1873.
+
+Pike, J.S.: The Prostrate State: South Carolina under Negro Government.
+New York, 1874.
+
+Pipkin, James Jefferson: The Negro in Revelation, in History, and
+in Citizenship. N.D. Thompson Publishing Co., St. Louis, 1902.
+
+Platt, O.H.: Negro Governors. Papers of the New Haven Colony
+Historical Society, Vol. 6. New Haven, 1900.
+
+Reese, David M.: A Brief Review of the First Annual Report of
+the American Anti-Slavery Society. New York, 1834.
+
+Rhodes, James Ford: History of the United States from the Compromise
+of 1850 (1850-1877 and 1877-1896). 8 vols. The Macmillan
+Co., New York, 1893-1919.
+
+Roman, Charles Victor: American Civilization and the Negro. F.A.
+Davis Co., Philadelphia, 1916.
+
+Russell, John H.: The Free Negro in Virginia, 1619-1865. Johns
+Hopkins Studies, Series XXXI, No. 3. Baltimore, 1913.
+
+Sandburg, Carl: The Chicago Race Riots, July, 1919. Harcourt,
+Brace & Howe, New York, 1919.
+
+Schurz, Carl: Speeches, Correspondence, and Political Papers, selected
+and edited by Frederic Bancroft. 6 vols. G.P. Putnam's Sons,
+New York and London, 1913.
+
+Scott, Emmett J.: Negro Migration during the War (in Preliminary
+Economic Studies of the War--Carnegie Endowment for International
+Peace: Division of Economics and History). Oxford University
+Press, American Branch. New York, 1920.
+
+  Official History of the American Negro in the World War. Washington,
+  1919.
+
+Seligman, Herbert J.: The Negro Faces America. Harper Bros.,
+New York, 1920.
+
+Shaler, Nathaniel Southgate: The Neighbor: the Natural History
+of Human Contacts. Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, 1904.
+
+Siebert, Wilbur H.: The Underground Railroad from Slavery to
+Freedom. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1898.
+
+Sinclair, William A.: The Aftermath of Slavery. Small, Maynard
+& Co., Boston, 1905.
+
+Smith, Justin H.: The War with Mexico. 2 vols. The Macmillan
+Co., New York, 1919.
+
+Smith, Theodore Clarke: Parties and Slavery. Vol. 18 of American
+Nation Series.
+
+Smith, T.W.: The Slave in Canada. Vol. 10 in Collections of the
+Nova Scotia Historical Society. Halifax, N.S., 1889.
+
+Stephenson, Gilbert Thomas: Race Distinctions in American Law.
+D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1910.
+
+Steward, T.G.: The Haitian Revolution, 1791-1804. Thomas Y.
+Crowell Co., New York, 1914.
+
+Stoddard, Lothrop: The Rising Tide of Color against White World-Supremacy,
+with an Introduction by Madison Grant. Charles Scribner's Sons.
+New York, 1920.
+
+Stone, Alfred H.: Studies in the American Race Problem. Doubleday,
+Page & Co., New York, 1908.
+
+Storey, Moorfield: The Negro Question. An Address delivered
+before the Wisconsin Bar Association. Boston, 1918. Problems
+of To-Day. Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, 1920.
+
+Thompson, Holland: The New South. Vol. 42 in Chronicles of
+America.
+
+Tillinghast, Joseph Alexander: The Negro in Africa and America.
+Publications of American Economics Association, Series 3 Vol 3,
+No. 2. New York, 1902.
+
+Toombs, Robert: Speech on The Crisis, delivered before the Georgia
+Legislature, Dec. 7, 1860. Washington, 1860.
+
+Tucker, St. George: A Dissertation on Slavery, with a Proposal for
+the Gradual Abolition of it in the State of Virginia. Philadelphia,
+1796.
+
+Turner, Frederick Jackson: The Rise of the New West. Vol. 14
+in American Nation Series.
+
+Turner, Edward Raymond: The Negro in Pennsylvania, 1639-1861
+(Justin Winsor Prize of American Historical Association, 1910).
+Washington, 1911.
+
+Washington, Booker T.: The Future of the American Negro. Small,
+Maynard & Co., Boston, 1899.
+
+  The Story of My Life and Work. Nichols & Co., Naperville, Ill.,
+  1900.
+
+  Up from Slavery: An Autobiography. Doubleday, Page & Co.,
+  New York, 1901.
+
+  Character Building. Doubleday, Page & Co., New York, 1902.
+
+  Working with the Hands. Doubleday, Page & Co., New York,
+  1904.
+
+  Putting the Most into Life. Crowell & Co., New York, 1906.
+
+  Frederick Douglass (in American Crisis Biographies). George W.
+  Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia, 1906.
+
+  The Negro in the South (with W.E.B. DuBois). George W.
+  Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia, 1907.
+
+  The Negro in Business. Hertel, Jenkins & Co., Chicago, 1907.
+
+  The Story of the Negro. 2 vols. Doubleday, Page & Co., New
+  York, 1909.
+
+  My Larger Education. Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City, N.Y.,
+  1911.
+
+  The Man Farthest Down (with Robert Emory Park). Doubleday,
+  Page & Co., Garden City, N.Y., 1912.
+
+Weale, B.L. Putnam: The Conflict of Color. The Macmillan Co.,
+New York, 1910.
+
+Weatherford, W.D.: Present Forces in Negro Progress. Association
+Press, New York, 1912.
+
+Weld, Theodore Dwight: American Slavery as It Is: Testimony
+of a Thousand Witnesses. Published by the American Anti-Slavery
+Society, New York, 1839.
+
+Wiener, Leo: Africa and the Discovery of America, Vol. I. Innes
+& Sons, Philadelphia, 1920.
+
+Williams, George Washington: History of the Negro Race in America
+from 1619 to 1880. 2 vols. G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York,
+1883.
+
+Wise, John S.: The End of an Era. Houghton, Mifflin Co., 1899.
+Woodson, Carter G.: The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861.
+G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1915.
+
+  A Century of Negro Migration. Association for the Study of
+  Negro Life and History, Washington, 1918.
+
+Woolf, Leonard: Empire and Commerce in Africa: A Study in
+Economic Imperialism. London, 1920. The Macmillan Co., New
+York.
+
+Wright, Richard R.: Negro Companions of the Spanish Explorers.
+(Reprinted from the _American Anthropologist_, Vol. 4, April-June,
+1902.)
+
+Wright, Richard R., Jr.: The Negro in Pennsylvania: A Study in
+Economic History. (Ph.D. thesis, Pennsylvania.) A.M.E. Book
+Concern, Philadelphia.
+
+Wright, T.S. See Cornish, Samuel E.
+
+Zabriskie, Luther K.: The Virgin Islands of the United States of
+America. G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1918.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+An Address to the People of the United States, adopted at a Conference
+of Colored Citizens, held at Columbia, S.C., July 20 and
+21, 1876. Republican Printing Co., Columbia, S.C., 1876.
+
+Paper (letter published in a Washington paper) submitted in connection
+with the Debate in the United States House of Representatives,
+July 15th and 18th, 1776, on the Massacre of Six Colored Citizens
+at Hamburg, S.C., July 4, 1876.
+
+Proceedings of the National Conference of Colored Men of the
+United States, held in the State Capitol at Nashville, Tenn., May
+6, 7, 8, and 9, 1879. Washington, D.C., 1879.
+
+Story of the Riot. Persecution of Negroes by roughs and policemen
+in the City of New York, August, 1900. Statement and Proofs
+written and compiled by Frank Moss and issued by the Citizens'
+Protective League. New York, 1900.
+
+The Voice of the Carpet Bagger. Reconstruction Review No. 1, published
+by the Anti-Lynching Bureau. Chicago, 1901.
+
+
+III. Special Lists
+
+1. On Chapter II, Section 3; Chapter III, Section 5; Chapter
+VIII and Chapter XI, the general topic being the social
+progress of the Negro before 1860. Titles are mainly in
+the order of appearance of works.
+
+Mather, Cotton: Rules for the Society of Negroes, 1693. Reprinted
+by George H. Moore, Lenox Library, New York, 1888.
+
+  The Negro Christianized. An Essay to excite and assist that good
+  work, the instruction of Negro-servants in Christianity. Boston,
+  1706.
+
+Allen, Richard. The Life, Experience and Gospel Labors of the Rt.
+Rev. Richard Allen, written by himself. Philadelphia, 1793.
+
+Hall, Prince. A Charge delivered to the African Lodge, June 24,
+1797, at Menotomy, by the Right Worshipful Prince Hall. (Boston)
+1797.
+
+To the Free Africans and Other Free People of Color in the United
+States. (Broadside) Philadelphia, 1797.
+
+Walker, David: Appeal, in four articles, together with a Preamble
+to the Colored Citizens of the World. Boston, 1829.
+
+Garrison, William Lloyd: An Address delivered before the Free
+People of Color in Philadelphia, New York, and other cities,
+during the month of June, 1831. Boston, 1831.
+
+  Thoughts on African Colonization (see list above).
+
+Minutes and Proceedings of the First Annual Convention of the
+People of Color, held by adjournments in the City of Philadelphia,
+from the sixth to the eleventh of June, inclusive, 1831.
+Philadelphia, 1831.
+
+College for Colored Youth. An Account of the New Haven City
+Meeting and Resolutions with Recommendations of the College,
+and Strictures upon the Doings of New Haven. New York, 1831.
+
+On the Condition of the Free People of Color in the United States.
+New York, 1839. (_The Anti-Slavery Examiner_, No. 13.)
+
+Condition of the People of Color in the State of Ohio, with interesting
+anecdotes. Boston, 1839.
+
+Armistead, Wilson: Memoir of Paul Cuffe. London, 1840.
+
+Wilson, Joseph: Sketches of the Higher Classes of Colored Society
+in Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1841.
+
+National Convention of Colored Men and Their Friends. Troy,
+N.Y., 1847.
+
+Garnet, Henry Highland: The Past and Present Condition and the
+Destiny of the Colored Race. Troy, 1848.
+
+Delany, Martin R.: The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny
+of the Colored People of the United States, Politically Considered.
+Philadelphia, 1852.
+
+Cincinnati Convention of Colored Freedmen of Ohio. Proceedings,
+Jan. 14-19, 1852. Cincinnati, 1852.
+
+Proceedings of the Colored National Convention, held in Rochester,
+July 6, 7, and 8, 1853. Rochester, 1853.
+
+Cleveland National Emigration Convention of Colored People. Proceedings,
+Aug. 22-24, 1854. Pittsburg, 1854.
+
+Nell, William C.: The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution,
+with sketches of several Distinguished Colored Persons: to which
+is added a brief survey of the Condition and Prospects of Colored
+Americans, with an Introduction by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
+Boston, 1855.
+
+Stevens, Charles E.: Anthony Burns, a History. Boston, 1856.
+
+Catto, William T.: A Semi-Centenary Discourse, delivered in the
+First African Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, with a History
+of the church from its first organization, including a brief notice
+of Rev. John Gloucester, its first pastor. Philadelphia, 1857.
+
+Bacon, Benjamin C.: Statistics of the Colored People of Philadelphia.
+Philadelphia, 1856. Second edition, with statistics of crime,
+Philadelphia, 1857.
+
+Condition of the Free Colored People of the United States, by James
+Freeman Clarke, in _Christian Examiner_, March, 1859, 246-265.
+Reprinted as pamphlet by American Anti-Slavery Society, New
+York, 1859.
+
+Brown, William Wells: Clotel, or The President's Daughter (a narrative
+of slave life in the United States). London, 1853.
+
+  The Escape; or A Leap for Freedom, a Drama in five acts. Boston,
+  1858.
+
+  The Black Man, His Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements.
+  New York, 1863.
+
+  The Rising Son; or The Antecedents and Advancement of the
+  Colored Race. Boston, 1874.
+
+To Thomas J. Gantt, Esq. (Broadside), Charleston, 1861.
+
+Douglass, William: Annals of St. Thomas's First African Church.
+Philadelphia, 1862.
+
+Proceedings of the National Convention of Colored Men, held in the city
+of Syracuse, N.Y., October 4, 5, 6, and 7, 1864, with the Bill of Wrongs
+and Rights and the Address to the American People. Boston, 1864.
+
+The Budget, containing the Annual Reports of the General Officers of the
+African M.E. Church of the United States of America, edited by Benjamin
+W. Arnett. Xenia, O., 1881. Same for later years.
+
+Simms, James M.: The First Colored Baptist Church in North America.
+Printed by J.B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, 1888.
+
+Upton, William H.: Negro Masonry, being a Critical Examination of
+objections to the legitimacy of the Masonry existing among the Negroes
+of America. Cambridge, 1899; second edition, 1902.
+
+Brooks, Charles H.: The Official History and Manual of the Grand United
+Order of Odd Fellows in America. Philadelphia, 1902.
+
+Cromwell, John W.: The Early Convention Movement. Occasional Paper No. 9
+of American Negro Academy, Washington, D.C., 1904.
+
+Brooks, Walter H.: The Silver Bluff Church, Washington, 1910.
+
+Crawford, George W.: Prince Hall and His Followers. New Haven, 1915.
+
+Wright, Richard R., Jr. (Editor-in-Chief): Centennial Encyclopædia
+of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. A.M.E. Book Concern,
+Philadelphia, 1916.
+
+Also note narratives or autobiographies of Frederick Douglass, Sojourner
+Truth, Samuel Ringgold Ward, Solomon Northrup, Lunsford Lane, etc.; the
+poems of Phillis Wheatley (first edition, London, 1773), and George M.
+Horton; Williams's History for study of some more prominent characters;
+Woodson's bibliography for the special subject of education; and
+periodical literature, especially the articles remarked in Chapter XI in
+connection with the free people of color in Louisiana.
+
+
+2. On Chapter V (Indian and Negro)
+
+A standard work on the Second Seminole War is The Origin, Progress, and
+Conclusion of the Florida War, by John T. Sprague, D. Appleton & Co.,
+New York, 1848; but also important as touching upon the topics of the
+chapter are The Exiles of Florida, by Joshua R. Giddings, Columbus,
+Ohio, 1858, and a speech by Giddings in the House of Representatives
+February 9, 1841. Note also House Document No. 128 of the 1st session
+of the 20th Congress, and Document 327 of the 2nd session of the 25th
+Congress. The Aboriginal Races of North America, by Samuel G. Drake,
+fifteenth edition, New York, 1880, is interesting and suggestive though
+formless; and McMaster in different chapters gives careful brief
+accounts of the general course of the Indian wars.
+
+
+3. On Chapter VII (Insurrections)
+
+(For insurrections before that of Denmark Vesey note especially Coffin,
+Holland, and Horsemanden above. On Gabriel's Insurrection see article by
+Higginson (_Atlantic_, X. 337), afterwards included in Travellers and
+Outlaws.)
+
+Denmark Vesey
+
+1. An Official Report of the Trials of Sundry Negroes, charged with an
+attempt to raise an Insurrection in the State of South Carolina. By
+Lionel H. Kennedy and Thomas Parker (members of the Charleston Bar and
+the Presiding Magistrates of the Court). Charleston, 1822.
+
+2. An Account of the Late Intended Insurrection among a Portion of the
+Black of this City. Published by the Authority of the Corporation of
+Charleston. Charleston, 1822 (reprinted Boston, 1822, and again in
+Boston and Charleston).
+
+The above accounts, now exceedingly rare, are the real sources of all
+later study of Vesey's insurrection. The two accounts are sometimes
+identical; thus the list of those executed or banished is the same. The
+first has a good introduction. The second was written by James Hamilton,
+Intendant of Charleston.
+
+3. Letter of Governor William Bennett, dated August 10, 1822. (This was
+evidently a circular letter to the press. References are to Lundy's
+_Genius of Universal Emancipation_, II, 42, Ninth month, 1822, and there
+are reviews in the following issues, pages 81, 131, and 142. Higginson
+notes letter as also in _Columbian Sentinel_, August 31, 1822;
+_Connecticut Courant_, September 3, 1822; and _Worcester Spy_, September
+18, 1822.)
+
+Three secondary accounts in later years are important:
+
+1. Article on Denmark Vesey by Higginson (_Atlantic_, VII. 728) included
+in Travellers and Outlaws: Episodes in American History. Lee and
+Shepard, Boston, 1889.
+
+2. Right on the Scaffold, or the Martyrs of 1822, by Archibald H.
+Grimké. No. 7 of the Papers of the American Negro Academy, Washington.
+
+3. Book I, Chapter XII, "Denmark Vesey's Insurrection," in Robert Y.
+Hayne and His Times, by Theodore D. Jervey, The Macmillan Co., New York,
+1909.
+
+Various pamphlets were written immediately after the insurrection not so
+much to give detailed accounts as to discuss the general problem of the
+Negro and the reaction of the white citizens of Charleston to the event.
+Of these we may note the following:
+
+1. Holland, Edwin C.: A Refutation of the Calumnies Circulated against
+the Southern and Western States. (See main list above.)
+
+2. Achates (General Thomas Pinckney): Reflections Occasioned by the Late
+Disturbances in Charleston. Charleston, 1822.
+
+3. Rev. Dr. Richard Furman's Exposition of the Views of the Baptists
+Relative to the Colored Population in the United States. (See main list
+above.)
+
+4. Practical Considerations Founded on the Scriptures Relative to the
+Slave Population of South Carolina. By a South Carolinian. Charleston,
+1823.
+
+Nat Turner
+
+1. The Confessions of Nat Turner, Leader of the Late Insurrection in
+Southampton, Va., as fully and voluntarily made to Thos. C. Gray, in the
+prison where he was confined--and acknowledged by him to be such, when
+read before the court at Southampton, convened at Jerusalem November 5,
+1831, for his trial. (This is the main source. Thousands of copies of
+the pamphlet are said to have been circulated, but it is now exceedingly
+rare. Neither the Congressional Library nor the Boston Public has a
+copy, and Cromwell notes that there is not even one in the State Library
+in Richmond. The copy used by the author is in the library of Harvard
+University.)
+
+2. Horrid Massacre. Authentic and Impartial Narrative of the Tragical
+Scene which was witnessed in Southampton County (Virginia) on Monday the
+22nd of August last. New York, 1831. (This gives a table of victims and
+has the advantage of nearness to the event. This very nearness, however,
+has given credence to much hearsay and accounted for several instances
+of inaccuracy.)
+
+To the above may be added the periodicals of the day, such as the
+Richmond _Enquirer_ and the _Liberator_; note _Genius of Universal
+Emancipation_, September, 1831. Secondary accounts or studies would
+include the following:
+
+1. Nat Turner's Insurrection, exhaustive article by Higginson
+(_Atlantic_, VIII. 173) later included in Travellers and Outlaws.
+
+2. Drewry, William Sidney: Slave Insurrections in Virginia (1830-1865).
+A Dissertation presented to the Board of University Studies of the Johns
+Hopkins University for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The Neale
+Company, Washington, 1900. (Unfortunately marred by a partisan tone.)
+
+3. The Aftermath of Nat Turner's Insurrection, by John W. Cromwell, in
+_Journal of Negro History_, April, 1920.
+
+_Amistad and Creole_ Cases
+
+1. Argument of John Quincy Adams before the Supreme Court of the United
+States, in the case of the United States, Apellants, vs. Cinque, and
+others, Africans, captured in the Schooner _Amistad_, by Lieut. Gedney,
+delivered on the 24th of February and 1st of March, 1841. New York,
+1841.
+
+2. Africans Taken in the _Amistad_. Document No. 185 of the 1st session
+of the 26th Congress, containing the correspondence in relation to the
+captured Africans. (Reprinted by Anti-Slavery Depository, New York,
+1840.)
+
+3. Senate Document 51 of the 2nd session of the 27th Congress.
+
+4. On Chapter IX (Liberia)
+
+Much has been written about Liberia, but the books and pamphlets have
+been very uneven in quality. Original sources include the reports of
+the American Colonization Society to 1825; _The African Repository_,
+a compendium issued sometimes monthly, sometimes quarterly, by the
+American Colonization Society from 1825 to 1892, and succeeded by the
+periodical known as _Liberia_; the reports of the different state
+organizations; J. Ashmun's History of the American Colony in Liberia
+from December, 1821 to 1823, compiled from the authentic records of the
+colony, Washington, 1826; Ralph Randolph Gurley's Life of Jehudi Ashmun,
+Washington, 1835, second edition, New York, 1839; Gurley's report
+on Liberia (a United States state paper), Washington, 1850; and the
+Memorial of the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the American Colonization
+Society, celebrated at Washington, January 15, 1867, with documents
+concerning Liberia, Washington, 1867; to all of which might be added
+Journal of Daniel Coker, a descendant of Africa, from the time of
+leaving New York, in the ship _Elisabeth_, Capt. Sebor, on a voyage for
+Sherbro, in Africa, Baltimore, 1820. J.H.B. Latrobe, a president of the
+American Colonization Society, is prominent in the Memorial volume of
+1867, and after this date are credited to him Liberia: its Origin,
+Rise, Progress, and Results, an address delivered before the American
+Colonization Society, January 20, 1880, Washington, 1880, and Maryland
+in Liberia, Baltimore, 1885. An early and interesting compilation is
+G.S. Stockwell's The Republic of Liberia: Its Geography, Climate, Soil,
+and Productions, with a history of its early settlement, New York, 1868;
+a good handbook is Frederick Starr's Liberia, Chicago, 1913; mention
+might also be made of T. McCants Stewart's Liberia, New York, 1886; and
+George W. Ellis's Negro Culture in West Africa, Neale Publishing Co.,
+New York, 1914, is outstanding in its special field. Two Johns Hopkins
+theses have been written: John H.T. McPherson's History of Liberia
+(Studies, IX, No. 10), 1891, and E.L. Fox's The American Colonization
+Society 1817-1840 (Studies, XXXVII, 9-226), 1919; the first of these is
+brief and clearcut and especially valuable for its study of the Maryland
+colony. Magazine articles of unusual importance are George W. Ellis's
+Dynamic Factors in the Liberian Situation and Emmett J. Scott's Is
+Liberia Worth Saving? both in _Journal of Race Development_, January,
+1911. Of English or continental works outstanding is the monumental but
+not altogether unimpeachable Liberia, by Sir Harry H. Johnston, with an
+appendix on the Flora of Liberia by Dr. Otto Stapf, 2 vols., Hutchinson
+& Co., London, 1906; while with a strong English bias and incomplete and
+unsatisfactory as a general treatise is R.C.F. Maughan's The Republic of
+Liberia, London (1920?), Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. Mention must
+also be made of the following publications by residents of Liberia: The
+Negro Republic on West Africa, by Abayomi Wilfrid Karnga, Monrovia,
+1909; New National Fourth Reader, edited by Julius C. Stevens, Monrovia,
+1903; Liberia and Her Educational Problems, by Walter F. Walker, an
+address delivered before the Chicago Historical Society, October
+23, 1916; and Catalogue of Liberia College for 1916, and Historical
+Register, printed at the Riverdale Press, Brookline, Mass., 1919; while
+Edward Wilmot Blyden's Christianity, Islam, and the Negro Race is
+representative of the best of the more philosophical dissertations.
+
+Abbeville, S.C.
+Aberdeen, Lord
+Abolition, Abolitionists
+Abraham, Negro interpreter
+Abyssinia
+Adams, Doc
+Adams, Henry
+Adams, John
+Adams, John Quincy
+Africa
+African Methodist Episcopal Church, and schools
+African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and schools
+_Age, The New York_
+Aguinaldo
+Akron, Ohio
+Alabama
+Aldridge, Ira
+Allen, Richard
+Alton, Ill.
+Ambrister, Robert
+Amendments to Constitution of United States
+American Anti-Slavery Society
+American Baptist Home Mission Society
+American Baptist Publication Society
+American Bar Association
+American Colonization Society
+American Convention of Abolition Societies
+American Federation of Labor
+American Giants
+American Missionary Association
+Amistad Case
+Anderson, Benjamin
+Andrew, John O.
+Andrew, William
+Anthony, Susan B.
+Anti-Slavery societies
+_Appeal_, David Walker's
+Arbuthnot, Alexander
+Arkansas
+Arkwright, Richard
+Armstrong, Samuel C.
+Asbury, Bishop
+Ashley, Lord
+Ashmun, Jehudi
+Assiento Contract
+Atlanta, Ga.
+Atlanta Compromise
+Atlanta Massacre
+Atlanta University
+Attaway, A.T.
+Attucks, Crispus
+Augusta, Ga.
+Ayres, Eli
+
+Bacon, Ephraim
+Bacon, John F.
+Bacon, Samuel
+Baker, F.B.
+Balboa
+Baltimore
+Banbaras
+Bankson, John
+Banneker, Benjamin
+Baptists, churches and schools
+Baptist Young People s Union
+Barbadoes
+Barbour, Capt.
+Barbour, Dan
+Barclay, Arthur
+Barlow, Joel
+Bassa Trading Association
+Bassa tribe
+Bassett, Ebenezer
+Batson, Flora
+Baxter, Richard
+Beecher, Henry Ward
+Behn, Aphra
+Belleau Wood
+Benedict College
+Benefit societies
+Benezet, Anthony
+Bennett, Batteau
+Bennett, Gov., of South Carolina
+Bennett, Ned
+Bennett, Rolla
+Benson, Stephen Allen
+Berea College
+Bethel Church, A.M.E., of Philadelphia
+Birmingham, Ala.
+Birney, James G.
+"Birth of a Nation"
+Bishop College
+Black Codes
+Black Star Line
+Blacksmith, Ben
+Blackwood, Jesse
+Blair, Henry
+Blanco, Pedro
+Bleckley, L.E.
+Blunt, John
+Blyden, Edward Wilmot
+Boatswain, African chief
+Bogalusa, La.
+Boston, Mass.
+Boston Massacre
+Boston, Samuel
+Bouey, H.N.
+Bourne, E.G.
+Bowers, John
+Bowler, Jack
+Boyd, Henry
+Brooks, Preston S.
+Brooks County, Ga.
+Brough, Charles H.
+Brown, Bishop, of Arkansas
+Brown, John
+Brown, William
+Brown, William Wells
+Browning, Elizabeth Barrett
+Brownsville, Texas
+Bruce, Blanche K.
+Bryan, Andrew
+Bryce, James
+Buchanan, Thomas H.
+Bull, Gov., of South Carolina
+Bullock, M.W.
+Burgess, Ebenezer
+Burleigh, Harry T.
+Burning of Negroes
+Burns, Anthony
+Burnside, Gen.
+Burton, Belfast
+Burton, Mary
+Business, Negro
+Butler, B.F., District Attorney in New York
+Butler, B.F., Gen.
+Butler, M.C.
+Butler, Sol
+Buttrick, Wallace
+Buzi tribe
+Byron, Lord
+
+Cable, George W.
+Cadell, Major
+Cæsar, in New York
+Calderon, Spanish minister
+Caldwell, Elias B.
+Calhoun, John C.
+Calvert, George, Lord Baltimore
+Camp Dodge
+Camp Grant
+Camphor, A.P.
+Canaan, N.H., school at
+Canada
+Canning, George
+Cape Palmas
+Cardozo, F.L.
+Carmantee tribe
+Carney, William H.
+Carranza, Andrés Dorantes de
+Carrizal
+Cartledge, Lewis
+Cary, Lott
+Cass, Lewis
+Cassell, Nathaniel H.B.
+Catholics
+Cato, insurrectionist
+Cato, Will
+Chain-gang
+_Challenge Magazine_
+Chamberlain, Gov., of South Carolina
+Champion, James
+Channing, William Ellery
+Charles V
+Charles, Robert
+Charleston, S.C.
+Château Thierry
+Chavis, John
+Cheeseman, Joseph James
+Cherokees
+Chesnutt, Charles W.
+Chester, Penn.
+Chicago riot
+Chickasaws
+Child, Lydia Maria
+China
+Choctaws,
+Christianity
+_Christian Recorder_
+Chuma
+Cincinnati
+Cinque, Joseph
+Civil Rights
+Civil War
+Claflin University
+_Clansman, The_
+Clark, Andrew
+Clark, Major
+Clark University
+Clarkson, Matthew
+Clarkson, Quamoney
+Clarkson, Thomas
+Clay, Henry
+Cleveland, Grover
+Cleveland, Ohio
+Clinch, Duncan L.
+Clinton, Sir Henry
+Coatesville, Penn.
+Cockburn, Sir Francis
+Coker, Daniel
+Cole and Johnson Company
+Cole, James
+Coleman, William D.
+Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel
+College graduates
+College of West Africa
+Colonization
+Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, and schools
+Compromise of 1850
+Congregationalists
+Connecticut
+Constitution of the United States
+Continental Congress
+Conventions
+Convict Lease system. _See_ Peonage.
+Cook, James
+Cook, O.F.
+Coot, insurrectionist
+Cope, Thomas P.
+Cordovell, of New Orleans
+Corey, C.H.
+"Corkscrew" lynching
+Cornish, Samuel E.
+Cotton-gin
+Cowagee, John
+Cowley, Robert
+Cowper, William
+Cox, Minnie
+Coybet, Gen.
+Cranchell, Cæsar
+Crandall, Prudence
+Cravath, E.M.
+Crawford, Anthony
+Crawford, William
+Creeks
+Creole Case
+Criminal, Negro
+_Crisis, The_
+Crompton, Samuel
+Cross Keys, Va.
+Crozer, Samuel A.
+Crucifixion
+Crum, William D.
+Crummell, Alexander
+Cuba
+Cuffe, Paul
+Cuffe, Peter
+Cuffee, in New York
+Curry, J.L.M.
+Curtis, Justice
+Cutler, Manasseh
+
+Dade, Major
+Darien, Ga.
+_Darkwater_
+Davis, Benjamin O.
+Declaration of Independence
+Declaration of Independence (Liberian)
+_Defender, The_
+De Grasse, John V.
+Delany, Martin R.
+Delaware
+Democrats
+Denmark
+Dennison, Franklin A.
+Derham, James
+Dew, T.R.
+Deys, in Africa
+Dickens, Charles
+Dillard, James H.
+Disfranchisement
+Dismond, Binga
+District of Columbia
+Dixie Kid
+Dixon, George
+Dixon, Thomas
+Dorsey, Hugh M.
+Dossen, J.J.
+Douglas, Stephen A.
+Douglass, Frederick
+Douglass, Robert
+Dow, Lorenzo
+Dowdy, Jim
+Draft Riot in New York
+Drake, Francis
+Drayton, Congressman from South Carolina
+Dred Scott Decision
+Drew, Howard P.
+"Dreyfus," poem by Edwin Markham
+DuBois, W.E. Burghardt
+Dugro, Justice P.H.
+Dunbar, Charles B.
+Dunbar, Paul L.
+Dunbar Theater, in Philadelphia
+Duncan, Otis B.
+Duncan, William
+Dunmore, Lord
+Dunning, W.A.
+Durham, Clayton
+Duties on importation of slaves
+Duval, William P.
+Dwight, Gen.
+Dyersburg, Tenn.
+
+Early County, Ga.
+East St. Louis
+Eaton, John, Comm. of Education
+Eaton, John H., Secretary of War
+Econchattimico
+Education
+Egypt
+Elaine, Ark.
+El Caney
+Eliot, John
+Elizabeth, Queen
+Elliott, Robert B.
+Emancipation
+Emathla, Charley
+Emathlochee
+Emerson, Dr.
+_Empire and Commerce in Africa_
+England (or Great Britain)
+Episcopalians
+Erie Railroad
+Estevanico
+Estill Springs, Tenn.
+Etheridge, at Phoenix, S.C.
+Ethiopians
+Evans, Lewis
+Everett, Alexander H.
+Everett, Edward
+Exodus, Negro. _See also_ Migration.
+
+Faber, F.W.
+Factories, slave
+Falkner, Roland P.
+Federalists
+Ferguson, Frank
+Ferguson, Samuel D.
+Fernandina, Fla.
+Finley, I.F.C.
+Finley, Robert
+First African Baptist Church, in Savannah
+First Bryan Baptist Church, in Savannah
+Fish War
+Fisk Jubilee Singers
+Fisk University
+Fleet, Dr.
+Fleming, W.L.
+Florida
+F.M.C.'s
+Foraker, J.B.
+Forrester, Lot
+Forsyth, John
+Fort Brooke
+Fort Gibson, Ark.
+Fort Jackson, treaty of
+Fort King
+Fort Mims
+Fort Moultrie (near St. Augustine), treaty of
+Fort Moultrie (near Charleston)
+Fort Pillow
+Fort Sam Houston
+Fort Wagner
+Forten, James
+Fortress Monroe
+Foster, Theodore
+Fowltown
+France
+Francis, Sam
+Francis, Will
+Franklin, Benjamin
+Free African Society
+Freedmen's Aid Society
+Freedmen's Bank
+Freedmen's Bureau
+_Freedom's Journal_
+Freeman, Cato
+Free Negroes
+Free-Soil Party
+Fremont, John C.
+Friends, Society of. _See_ Quakers.
+Frissell, Hollis B.
+Fugitive Slave Laws
+Fuller, Meta Warrick
+Furman, Richard
+
+Gabriel, insurrectionist
+Gadsden, James
+Gage, Frances D.
+Gailliard, Nicholas
+Gaines, Gen.
+Galilean Fishermen
+Galveston
+Gans, Joe
+Gardiner, Anthony W.
+Garlington, E.A.
+Garnett, H.H.
+Garrison, William Lloyd
+Garvey, Marcus
+Gatumba, Chief
+Geaween, John
+Gell, Monday
+General Education Board
+Georgia
+_Georgia Baptist_
+Georgia Railroad labor trouble
+Georgia, University of
+Germans, Germany
+Germantown protest
+Gibbes, Gov., of South Carolina
+Gibson, Garretson W.
+Giddings, Joshua R.
+Gildersleeve, Basil L.
+Giles, Harriet E.
+Giles, Jackson W.
+Gilmer, Congressman, of Georgia
+Gleaves, R.H.
+Gloucester, John
+Gola tribe
+Gold Coast
+Gonzales
+Goodspeed, Dr., of Benedict College
+Gorden, Robert
+Gordon, Midshipman
+Gourdin, E.
+Gradual Emancipation
+Grady, Henry W.
+Graeff, Abraham Op den
+Graeff, Dirck Op den
+Grand Bassa
+"Grandfather Clause,"
+Grant, U.S.
+Graves, Samuel
+Gray, Thomas C.
+Gray, William
+Great War
+Grebo tribe
+Greeley, Horace
+Greene, Col.
+Greenfield, Elizabeth Taylor
+Greenleaf, Prof.
+Greenville, in Liberia
+Grice, Hezekiah
+Groves, Junius C.
+Grundy, Felix
+_Guardian, The_
+Guerra, Christóbal de la
+Guerra, Luís de la
+Guinea Coast
+Gullah Jack
+Gurley, R.R.
+
+Hadjo, Micco
+Hajo, Tuski
+Hall, James
+Hall, Prince
+Hallowell, Edward N.
+Hallowell, N.P.
+Hamburg Massacre
+Hampton Institute
+Hampton, Wade
+Harden, Henry
+Hargreaves, James
+Harper, in Liberia
+Harper, F.E.W.
+Harper's Ferry
+Harris, Arthur
+Harris, John M.
+Harris, William T.
+Harrison, Benjamin
+Harrison, William Henry
+Harrison St. Baptist Church, of Petersburg, Va.
+Harry, Negro in Seminole Wars
+Hart, A.B.
+Hartford, Conn.
+Harth, Mingo
+Hartshorn Memorial College
+Harvard University
+Haussas
+Havana
+Havelock, A.E.
+Hawkins, John
+Hawkins, William
+Hayes, R.B.
+Haygood, Atticus G.
+Hayne, Robert Y.
+Haynes, George E.
+Haynes, Lemuel
+Hayti
+Heber, Reginald
+Helper, Hinton Rowan
+Hendericks, Garret
+Henry, Prince, of Portugal
+Henry, Patrick
+Hewell, John R.
+Hicks, John
+Higginson, Thomas Wentworth
+Hill, Arnold
+Hill, Stephen
+Hoar, Samuel
+Hodge, F.W.
+Hoffman, Frederick L.
+Hogg, Robert, and Mrs. Hogg
+Holbert, Luther
+Holland
+Holland, Edwin C.
+Holly, James Theodore
+Homer
+Hopkins, Samuel
+Horsemanden, Judge
+Horseshoe Bend
+Horton, George M.
+Hose, Sam
+Houston, Texas
+Howard, Daniel Edward
+Howard, O.O.
+Howard University
+Howells, William Dean
+Howze, Alma
+Howze, Maggie
+Hughes, Charles E.
+Hughson, John
+Hughson, Sarah
+Hugo, Victor
+Humphreys, Gad
+Hunter, David
+
+Illinois
+_Impending Crisis, The_
+Indenture. _See_ Servitude.
+Indiana
+Indians
+Indian Spring, treaty of
+_Informer_, The Houston
+Insurrections
+Intermarriage, Racial intermixture
+
+Jackson, Andrew
+Jackson College
+Jackson, Edward
+Jackson, Francis
+Jackson, James
+Jackson, Peter
+Jacksonville, Fla.
+Jamaica
+James, David
+James, Duke of York
+Jamestown
+Japan
+Jasper, John
+Jay, John
+Jay, William
+Jeanes, Anna T.
+Jeanes Fund
+Jefferson, Thomas
+Jennings, Thomas L.
+Jessup, Thomas S.
+"Jim Crow," origin of
+Jocelyn, S.S.
+John, in Fugitive Slave case
+Johnson, Andrew
+Johnson, Elijah
+Johnson, Henry
+Johnson, H.R.W.
+Johnson, Jack
+Johnson, James
+Johnson, Joseph
+Johnston brothers, of Arkansas
+Johnston, E.L.
+Johnston, Sir Harry H.
+Jones, Abraham
+Jones, Eugene K.
+Jones, George
+Jones, Sam
+Jones, Sissieretta
+Julius, John
+
+Kali, in Amistad case
+Kansas
+Kansas City, dynamiting of homes in
+Kansas-Nebraska Bill
+Kean, Edmund
+Kentucky
+Kerry, Margaret
+King, C.D.B.
+King, Mulatto
+King, Rufus
+Kizell, John
+Knights of Pythias
+Knights of the Golden Circle
+Knoxville College
+Knoxville riot
+Kpwessi tribe
+Kru tribe
+KuKlux Klan
+
+Labor
+Lafar, John J.
+Laing, Major
+Lake City, S.C.
+Lane College
+Lane Seminary
+Langston, John Mercer
+Las Quasimas
+Laurens, Henry
+Laurens, John
+Law, John
+Lawless, Judge
+Le Clerc, Gen.
+Lee, Robert E.
+Lee County, Ga.
+Leicester, Earl of
+Leland Giants
+Lewis, William H.
+_Liberator, The_
+Liberia
+Liberia College
+Liberian Exodus and Joint Stock Company
+Liberty Party
+Liele, George
+Lincoln, Abraham
+Lincoln Giants
+Lincoln University
+Livingstone College
+Livingstone, David
+Lockwood, L.C.
+London Company
+Louisiana
+Louis Napoleon
+Lovejoy, Elijah P.
+Lowell, James R.
+Lugard, Lady
+Lundy, Benjamin
+Lutherans
+Lynching
+
+Macaulay, T.B.
+Macon, Ga.
+Madagascar
+Madison, James
+Mahan, Asa
+Maine
+Malays
+Maldonado, Alonzo del Castillo
+Mandingoes
+Manly, Alex. L.
+Mano tribe
+Mansfield, Lord
+Marcos, Fray
+Markham, Edwin
+Marriage
+_Marrow of Tradition, The_
+Marshall, J.F.B.
+Marshall, J.R.
+Marshall, of Univ. of Minnesota
+Martin, Luther
+Maryland
+Mason, George
+Masons, Negro
+Massachusetts
+Mather, Cotton
+Matthews, W.C.
+May, Samuel J.
+Mazzini, G.
+McCorkle, William A.
+McIlheron, Jim
+McIntosh, burned
+McKay, Claude
+McKelway, A.J.
+Medicine, Negro in
+Memphis, Tenn.
+Mercer, Charles F.
+_Messenger, The_
+Methodists, churches and schools. _See also_ African Methodist.
+Mexican War
+Metz
+Micanopy
+Mickasukie tribe
+Migration. _See also_ Exodus.
+Milan, Ga.
+Milliken's Bend
+Mills, Samuel J.
+Minstrelsy
+Miscegenation. _See_ Intermarriage, Racial intermixture.
+Mississippi
+Mississippi Company
+Missouri
+Missouri Compromise
+Mobile
+Mohammedans
+Monroe, James
+Monrovia
+Montes, Pedro
+Montgomery, Ala.
+Montgomery, James
+Monticello, Ga.
+Montserado, Cape
+Moore, Joanna P.
+Moorhead, Scipio
+Moors
+Morehouse College
+Morell, Junius C.
+Morgan, Thomas J.
+Morris Brown University
+Morris, Edward H.
+Morris, Gouverneur
+Morris, Robert, Jr.
+Mortality
+Mott, Lucretia
+Mulattoes
+Mumford, John P.
+"Mungo," in The Padlock
+Murphy, Edgar G.
+
+Napoleon Bonaparte
+Narvaez, Pamfilo de
+Nashville, Tenn.
+Nassau
+National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
+National Urban League
+Navigation Ordinance
+Nea Mathla
+Neau, Elias
+_Negro_, the word
+Negro Union
+_Negro World, The_
+Nell, William C.
+New Bedford, Mass.
+New England Anti-Slavery Society
+New Hampshire
+New Jersey
+New Orleans
+New Mexico
+New York (city)
+New York (state)
+_News and Courier_, of Charleston, S.C.
+Niagara Movement
+Niles, Hezekiah
+Niño, Pedro Alonso
+Norfolk, Va.
+North Carolina
+Northrup, Solomon
+_North Star_
+Northwest Territory
+Nott, Josiah C.
+Nott, Dr., of Union College
+Nullification
+Nunn, Joseph
+
+Oberlin College
+Odd Fellows
+Ogden, Peter
+Ogden, Robert C.
+Oglethorpe, James
+Ohio
+Oklahoma
+Omaha
+Orange Park Academy
+Osceola
+Otis, James
+Otis, Mayor, of Boston
+Ouithlecoochee, Battle of
+Ovando
+
+Packard, Sophia B.
+Page, Thomas Nelson
+Page, Walter H.
+Palmer, B.M.
+Palmetto, Ga.
+Pan-African Congress
+Pappa tribe
+Parker, Theodore
+Parrott, Russell
+Pastorius, Francis Daniel
+Patterson, Joseph
+Paul, William
+Payne, Daniel A.
+Payne, James Spriggs
+Payne's Landing, treaty of
+Peabody Educational Fund
+Peabody, George Foster
+Pembroke, Earl of
+Pennington, James W.C.
+Pennsylvania
+Pennsylvania Railroad
+Pensacola
+Peonage
+Perkins, Francis
+Perry, Bliss
+Person, Ell T.
+Petersburg, Va.
+Phagan, John
+Phelps, John W.
+Phelps-Stokes Fellowships
+Philadelphia
+Phillips, Wendell
+Phipps, Benjamin
+Phoenix societies
+Pierce, Leonard
+Pike, in Brooks County, Ga.
+Pittman, W. Sydney
+Pittsburgh, Penn.
+Plançiancois, Anselmas
+Pleasants, Robert
+Pollard, F.
+Poor, Samuel
+Poor white man, as related to Negro
+Population, Negro
+Populist Party
+Port Hudson
+Porter, Henry
+Portugal
+Potter, James
+Powell. See Osceola.
+Poyas, Peter
+Presbyterians
+Price, Arthur
+Prince
+Princeton
+Problem, Negro. See Table of Contents.
+Progressive Party
+Punishment. See also Lynching, Burning.
+Purcell, Jack
+Puritans
+
+Quack, in New York
+Quakers
+Queen and Crescent Railroad trouble
+Quinn, William Paul
+
+Randolph, John
+Reconstruction
+Reed, Paul
+Reese, Jack
+_Republic of Liberia, The_
+Republican Party
+Reuter, E.B.
+Revels, Hiram R.
+_Review of Reviews_, quoted
+Revolutionary War
+Revolution, French
+Rhode Island
+Rhodes, Cecil
+Rice, Thomas D.
+Richmond, Va.
+Rigaud
+_Rising Tide of Color, The_
+Rivers, P.R.
+Robert, Joseph T.
+Roberts, Joseph Jenkin
+Robeson, P.L.
+Rockefeller, John D.
+Romanticism
+Romme, John
+Roosevelt, Theodore
+Ross, John
+Royal African Company
+Roye, Edward James
+Ruffin, George L.
+Ruiz, José
+Rush, Christopher
+Russell, Alfred F.
+Russwurm, John B.
+Rust University
+Rutledge, John
+
+St. Augustine, Fla.
+St. Louis, Mo.
+St. Mihiel
+St. Philip's Church, in New York
+St. Thomas's Episcopal Church, in Philadelphia
+Sale, George
+Salem, Peter
+Samba, insurrectionist
+Sandford (in Dred Scott Case)
+San Juan Hill
+Santiago
+Santo Domingo
+Sargent, Frank P.
+Savannah, Ga.
+Schurz, Carl
+Scott, Emmett J.
+Scott, Lation
+Scott, Walter
+Seaton, Richard
+Sebastian
+Sebor, Capt
+Secoffee
+Secret societies
+Segui, Bernard
+Selika, Mme
+Seminole Wars
+Servitude
+Seward, William H.
+Seyes, John
+Shadd, Abraham
+Sharp, Granville
+Shaw, Robert Gould
+Shaw Monument
+Shaw University
+Shepherd, Randall
+Sheridan, Philip
+Shubuta, Miss.
+Shufeldt, R.W.
+Sierra Leone
+Silver Bluff Church
+Simon
+Singleton, Benjamin
+Sino, in Liberia
+Slater Fund
+Slavery. _See_ Table of Contents.
+Slave Ships
+Smith, Adam
+Smith, Alfred
+Smith, Edward P.
+Smith, Gerrit
+Smith, Hampton
+Smith, Henry
+Smith, Hoke
+Smith, James McCune
+Smith, Stephen
+Smith, W.B.
+Social Progress
+Socialism
+Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts
+Soldier, Negro
+Somerset, James
+Soulouque, Faustin
+_Souls of Black Folk, The_
+South Carolina
+South Carolina Medical College
+Southern Education Board
+Southern Educational Congress
+Southern Sociological Congress
+Southerne, Thomas
+_Southwestern Christian Advocate_
+Spain
+Spaniards
+Spanish-American War
+Spanish Exploration
+Spelman Seminary
+Spence, R.T.
+Spencer, Peter
+Sport
+Springfield, Ill.
+Stanton, Elizabeth Cady
+Statesville, Ga.
+Stephens, Alexander
+Stevens, Julius C.
+Stevens, Thaddeus
+Steward, Austin
+Stewart, Charles
+Stewart, T. McC.
+Stiles, Ezra
+Stoddard, Lothrop
+Stone, Lucy
+Stockton, Robert F.
+Stone, Alfred H.
+Storey, Moorfield
+Stowe, Harriet Beecher
+Straight University
+Straker, D.A.
+Students' Army Training Corps
+Summersett, John
+Sumner, Charles
+Supreme Court
+Susi
+
+Taft, W.H.
+Talladega, Ala.
+Talladega College
+Tallahassee, Fla.
+Taney, R.B.
+Tanner, Henry O.
+Tappan, Arthur
+Tappan, Lewis
+Tapsico, Jacob
+Taney, Chief Justice
+Taylor, John B.
+Taylor, Major
+Taylor, William
+Tecumseh
+Tennessee
+Terrell, Mary Church
+Terrell, J.M.
+Texas
+Thomas, Charles
+Thomas, W.H.
+Thompson, George
+Thompson, Wiley
+Thornton, William
+_Thoughts on African Colonisation_
+Tillman, Benjamin R.
+Tithables, defined
+Tolbert, John R.
+Tolbert, R.R.
+Tolbert, Thomas
+Toombs, Robert
+Toussaint L'Ouverture
+Travis, Hark
+Travis, Joseph
+Tremont Temple Baptist Church
+Trotter, Monroe
+Truth, Sojourner
+Tubman, Harriet
+Tucker, St. George
+Tupper, Pres., of Shaw University
+Turnbull, Robert James
+Turner, H.M.
+Turner, Mary
+Turner, Nat, and his insurrection
+Tuskegee Institute
+Tustenuggee, 114
+
+_Uncle Tom's Cabin_
+Underground Railroad
+Universal Negro Improvement Association
+Universal Races Congress
+University Commission on Southern Race Questions
+Ury, John
+Utrecht, Peace of
+
+Vaca, Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de
+Vail, Aaron
+Vai tribe
+Valdosta, Ga.
+Valladolid, Juan de
+Van Buren, Martin
+Vardaman, James K.
+Varick, James
+Vermont
+Vesey, Denmark, and his insurrection
+Vincenden, Gen.
+Virginia
+Virginia Union University
+Virginia, University of
+Virgin Islands
+Vogelsang, Peter
+_Voice of the Negro, The_
+Vosges
+
+Waco, Texas
+Walcott, Joe
+Walker, John
+Walker, Mme. C.J.
+Walker, David
+Walker, Walter F.
+Walker, Zach
+War of 1812
+Ward, Samuel Ringgold
+Ware, Asa
+Warner, Daniel Bashiel
+Washington, Berry
+Washington, Booker T.
+Washington, Bushrod
+Washington, George
+Washington, Jesse
+Washington, Madison
+Washington, D.C.
+Watson, Brook
+Watt, James
+Watterson, Henry
+Weathersford
+Webster, Daniel
+Webster, Thomas
+Wendell, Abraham
+Wesley, John
+West Virginia
+Wheatley, Phillis
+Whipper, of Pennsylvania
+Whipper, William
+White, George H.
+White, Thomas J.
+White, William
+White, William J.
+Whitfield, James M.
+Whittekin, F.F.
+Whitney, Eli
+Whittier, John G.
+Wiener, Leo
+Wilberforce University
+Wilberforce, William
+Wilcox, Samuel T.
+Wild Cat
+Wiley University
+Will
+William and Mary College
+Williams and Walker Company
+Williams, Charles H.
+Williams, Daniel H.
+Williams, George W.
+Williams, Nelson
+Williams, Peter
+Williams, Richard
+Williamsburg, Va.
+Williamson, Edward
+Wilmington, N.C.
+Wilson, James
+Wilson, Woodrow
+Winn, J.B.
+Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society
+Woman Suffrage
+Woods, Granville T.
+Woodson, Carter G.
+Woolf, Leonard
+Woolman, John
+Wright, Robert
+Wycliffe, John C.
+
+Yellow fever, in Philadelphia;
+in Hayti
+Yemassee
+Y.M.C.A.
+Young, Charles E.
+
+Zuñi Indians
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12101 ***