The others came of their own accord, he had a pressing invitation to be
present here. But since the world began did ever guest cause so much
commotion in a national household? The other members of the family have
been fighting and contending about him ever since he arrived.
"Who is he?" As to his origin and identity scientists disagree, and
modern history is either silent or incoherent.
"WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH THE NEGRO?"
This question has divided churches and religious denominations; it
has sundered the fraternal ties of secret societies; it has perplexed
statesmen; it has divided parties; it has appealed to the highest
tribunal in the land for settlement, only to be more complicated by the
learned decisions of the courts; it has marshalled armies and nearly
caused "the government of the people by the people and for the people
to perish from the earth."
This question, "What shall we do with the Negro?" presented itself for
solution when the foundations of our government were laid. One of our
statesmen has observed that, "The compromises on the Slavery question,
inserted in the Constitution, were among the essential conditions
upon which the federal government was organized. If the African slave
trade had not been permitted to continue for twenty years, if it had
not been conceded that three-fifths of the slaves should be counted in
the apportionment of representatives in congress, if it had not been
agreed that fugitives from service should be returned to their owners,
the thirteen States would not have been able in 1787 'to form a more
perfect union.'"
Thus we see that the Negro has been in politics ever since the adoption
of the Constitution.
But, throughout the long night of bondage, for three quarters of a
century, not a single act designed for the betterment or advantage of
the Negro can be found upon the statute books of any Southern State.
Even as late as '62 the Democratic State convention of Pennsylvania
said: "This government was established exclusively for the white
race." In every State the Negro was denied those primary rights which
centuries before had been wrested from King John at Runnymede and
recorded in Magna Charta. The immortal principles laid down in the
Declaration of Independence loosed not the fetters of a slave. The
South were let alone until they caused eleven stars to fall from our
glorious flag, and it took a million bayonets to pin them back to the
place from which they had wandered, there to remain as long as the
Republic shall endure. When secession and rebellion threatened the
overthrow of the constitution and the peril of our national life, it
was