Nullification will put an end to our government as it now exists.
This subversion of the Fifteenth amendment by the Democratic party in
the "new South" is undermining the very foundation of the Republic.
The Negro is not the only nor perhaps the greatest sufferer by this
violence. It breeds disrespect for the fundamental principles of our
government on the part of those who silently permit this outrage to
proceed, as well as on the part of those guilty of its commission.
This violation is sowing the seed of anarchy. It substitutes for the
rule of the majority the rule of an unscrupulous minority. Under the
old regime, in the apportionment of representatives to Congress,
three-fifths of the Negroes were counted. Now all the Negroes are
counted, but in no Southern State is their vote counted for the party
or the candidate of their choice. Districts overwhelmingly Republican
send Democratic representatives to Congress. These men who ride into
the National Capitol over the bones of murdered men or by means of
intimidation and fraud, actually have three times the political power
of a man who has been honestly elected in Ohio, Pennsylvania or New
York.
In States overwhelmingly Republican the electoral vote is openly given
to the candidate of the opposing party. Thus a president of the United
States may be made to take his seat athwart the graves of murdered
citizens, and to seize the reins of government in defiance to the will
of the lawfully constituted majority. The person who attacks or rebukes
this high-handed treason is accused of "waving the bloody shirt" and of
"seeking to stir up sectional hatred." The South comes forward with its
old cry, "Let us alone; we can settle all our own difficulties;" which
they have done, the shot-gun and the Winchester rifle coming in for a
large share of the glory.
The Republican press, Republican statesmen and Republican orators
have been too long silent. We have too easily abandoned the Southern
Republican to his fate on the grounds that the subversion of the
constitution cannot be stopped. But it is my deliberate judgment and
solemn belief that if Negroes were surrounding the ballot boxes with
shot-guns and keeping white men from the polls, we would find a way to
stop it. If Negroes were fraudulently seizing the representation in
scores of congressional districts and the electoral vote in a dozen
States, we would find a way to stop it.