_Whereas_, by the proclamation of emancipation of President Lincoln in
the year 1863, about four million of colored people were emancipated
from American slavery; and _whereas_, by the subsequent amendments to
the Constitution of the United States, passed by Congress and ratified
by more than three-quarters of the States of the Union, nearly a million
of said emancipated slaves, of lawful age and sex, were enfranchised and
made citizens; and
_Whereas_, said amendments to the Constitution were practically
nullified and rendered a dead letter in the Southern States at the last
presidential election, and ever since, by disfranchising the colored
Republicans who would not put into the ballot-boxes Democratic tickets,
shooting some and intimidating others; and
_Whereas_, the elements of despotism in the Democratic party are now
clamoring for a repeal of the said constitutional amendments, so that
they may return the colored Republicans legally to their former
condition, or a worse one, and use them for Democratic voters and
ballot-box stuffers; therefore,--