_Prejudices at the North.--Black Laws of Illinois and
Indiana.--Ill-treatment of Negroes.--The Blacks forget their Wrongs, and
come to the Rescue._
In the struggle between the Federal Government and the rebels, the
colored men asked the question, “Why should we fight?” The question was
a legitimate one, at least for those residing in the Northern States,
and especially in those States where there were any considerable number
of colored people. In every State north of Mason and Dixon’s Line,
except Massachusetts and Rhode Island, which attempted to raise a
regiment of colored men, the blacks are disfranchised, excluded from the
jury-box, and in most of them from the public schools. The iron hand
of prejudice in the Northern States is as circumscribing and unyielding
upon him as the manacles that fettered the slave of the South.
Now, these are facts, deny it who will. The negro has little to hope
from Northern sympathy or legislation. Any attempt to engraft upon
the organic law of the States provisions extending to the colored man
political privileges is overwhelmingly defeated by the people. It makes
no difference that here is a pen, and there a voice, raised in his
behalf: the general verdict is against him; and its repetition in any
case where it is demanded shows that it is inexorable. We talk a great
deal about the vice of slavery, and the cruelty of denying to our
fellowmen their personal freedom and a due reward of labor; but we are
very careful not to concede the corollary, that the sin of withholding
that freedom is not vastly greater than withholding the rights to which
he who enjoys it is entitled.
When the war broke out, it was the boast of the Administration that the
status of the negro was not to be changed in the rebel States. President
Lincoln, in his inaugural address, took particular pains to commit
himself against any interference with the condition of the blacks.
When the Rebellion commenced, and the call was made upon the country,
the colored men were excluded. In some of the Western States into which
slaves went when escaping from their rebel masters, in the first and
second years of the war, the black-laws were enforced to drive them
out. Read what “The Daily Alton Democrat” said for Illinois, in the year
1862:--
“_Notice to the ‘Free Negroes.’_--I hereby give public notice to all
free negroes who have arrived here from a foreign State within the
past two months, or may hereafter come into the city of Alton with the
intention of being residents thereof, that they are allowed the space of
thirty days to remove; and, upon failure to leave the city, will,
after that period, be proceeded against by the undersigned, as by
law directed. The penalty is a heavy fine, to liquidate which the
law-officer is compelled to offer all free negroes arrested at public
auction, unless the fine and all costs of suit are promptly paid. I hope
the city authorities will be spared the _necessity_ of putting the
above law _in execution_. All railroad companies and steamboats are also
forbidden to land free negroes within the city under the penalty of
the law. No _additional_ notice will be given. Suits will positively be
instituted against all offenders.
“JAMES W. DAVIS,
“May 27, 1862.”
“_Prosecuting Attorney Alton-City Court._”
The authorities of the State of Indiana also got on the track of the
contrabands from the rebel States; and the old black-laws were put forth
as follows:--
“Any person who shall employ a negro or mulatto who shall have come into
the State of Indiana subsequent to the thirty-first day of October, in
the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, or shall hereafter
come into said State, or who shall encourage such negro or mulatto
to remain in the State, shall be fined in any sum not less than ten
dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars.”
The following will show how Illinois treated the colored people, even
after the proclamation of freedom was put forth by President Lincoln.
“The Whiteside (Ill.) Sentinel” says the following official notice
is posted in the post-office and other public places in the city of
Carthage, Hancock County, Ill. It is a practical exemplication of the
Illinois “black-laws.” The notice reads as follows:--
“_Public Sale_.--Whereas, The following negroes and one mulatto man
were, on the fifth and sixth days of February, 1863, tried before the
undersigned, a Justice of the Peace within and for Hancock County, Ill.,
on a charge of high misdemeanor, having come into this State and county,
and remaining therein for ten days and more, with the evident intention
of residing in this State, and were found guilty by a jury, and were
each severally fined in the sum of fifty dollars, and the judgment was
rendered against said negroes and mulatto man for fifty dollars’ fine
each, and costs of suit, which fines and costs are annexed opposite to
each name, to wit:--
Age. Fine. Costs.
John, a negro man, tall and slim, about. 35 $50 $33.17
Sambo, a negro man, about 21 50 32.17
Austin, a negro man, heavy set, about 20 50 30.10
Andrew, a negro man, about 50 30 33.00
Amos, a negro man, about 40 50 29.67
Nelson, a mulatto man, about 55 50 30.07
“And whereas. Said fines and costs have not been paid, notice is
therefore given that the undersigned will, on Thursday, the nineteenth
day of February, A.D. 1863, between the hours of one and five o’clock,
p.m., of said day, at the west end of the Court House, in Carthage,
Hancock County, 111., sell each of said negro men, John, Austin, Sambo,
Andrew, Amos, and said mulatto man, Nelson, at public auction, to the
person or persons who will pay the said fine and costs appended against
each respectively for the shortest time of service of said negroes and
mulatto.
“The purchaser or purchasers will be entitled to the control and
services of the negroes and mulatto purchased for the period named in
the sale, and no longer, and will be required to furnish said negroes
and mulatto with comfortable food, clothing, and lodging during said
servitude. The fees for selling will be added on completion of the sale.
“_C. M. CHILD, J.P_.
“Carthage, Feb. 9, 1863.”
It will be seen that these odious laws were rigidly enforced. With what
grace could the authorities in those States ask the negro to fight? Yet
they called upon him; and he, forgetting the wrongs of the past, and
demanding no pledge for better treatment, left family, home, and every
thing dear, enlisted, and went forth to battle. And even Connecticut,
with her proscription of the negro, called on him to fight. How
humiliating it must have been! And yet Connecticut, after appealing to
black men, and receiving their aid in fighting her battles, retains
her negro “black-laws” upon her statute-book by a vote of more than six
thousand.