Historical voices

I believe the right of the black man to freedom, and security for freedom, as a result of the war, to be incontestible.

And since we all know that natural rights can not be made secure except through political rights, shall not the ballot—the freeman’s weapon in peace—replace the bayonet—the freeman’s weapon in war?

If Union and Freedom have been secured through courage, and fortitude, and zeal, displayed by black as well as white soldiers, shall not the former be benefited in due measure as well as the latter?

If, then, he has contributed in just measure to the victory, shall he not partake of its fruits?

And now, who can say that the colored man has not done his full part in the struggle?

In this great struggle, now for universal freedom not less than for perpetual Union, who ought to take part, if not they?

The argument was plain and irresistible: If we make them freemen, and their defense is the defense of the Nation, whose right and duty is it to bear arms, if not theirs?

So, too, when necessarily that other question arose: “Shall we give arms to the black men?” I could not doubt or hesitate.

And when war came, there came also the idea, gradually growing into settled conviction in the hearts of the people, that slavery, having taken the sword, must perish by the sword.

But God, in His providence, permitted the madness of slavery-extension and slavery-domination to attempt the dismemberment of the Union by war.

Not through those seas of blood, and those vast gulfs of cost, would I have willingly sought even the great good of universal emancipation.

Earnestly desirous, as I always was, of the enfranchisement of every slave in the land, I never dreamed of seeking enfranchisement through war.

No man, perhaps, has more deplored the war, from which the country is now emerging, than myself.

It has ever been my earnest desire to see every man, of every race and every color, fully secured in the enjoyment of all natural rights, and provided with every legitimate means for the defense and maintenance of those rights.

He has kindly introduced me as a friend of freedom; and such, since I have taken a man’s part in life, I have always been.

And, while the men who fought for the rebellion are entirely subdued, the men who wrote for it have seven devils now for every one that formerly possessed them.

Better let them build who rear the house of nations, Than that Fate should rock it to foundation stone; Leave the Earth her storms, the stars their perturbations, “Steadfast welfare stays where JUSTICE binds her zone.

Their devotion to the Union may prove one of the strongest guarantees for the speedy return of loyalty to the South.

Their order and industry are the only guaranty for the speedy return of prosperity to the South.

But wherever they have opportunity, they are fitting themselves for it with a zeal and rapidity never equalled by any similar class.

They are not such material as, under ordinary circumstances, one would now choose for the duties of American citizenship.

The worst enemies to the enfranchised race, will at least admit that ample prominence has been given to their faults.

The great cotton plantations bordering the Mississippi are largely in the hands of Northern lessees; and few, if any of them have experienced the slightest difficulty from any hostility of the inhabitants.

Along the great highways of travel in the South, I judge investments by Northern men to be nearly as safe as they could be anywhere.