On the record
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?
Said by
Whitelaw Reid
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gutenberg.orgWhitelaw Reid: “The argument was plain and irresistible: If we make them freemen, and their defense is the defense of the Nation, whose…”
Editor's note · Context
He argues for the right of freedmen to bear arms in defense of the nation.
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More from Whitelaw Reid
And it is both natural and right that colored Americans, entitled to the rights of citizens, should claim their exercise.
In this way they will surely overcome unjust hostility, and convince even the most prejudiced that the denial to them of any right which citizens may properly exercise is equally unwise and wrong.
They should persist in this claim respectfully, but firmly, taking care to bring no discredit upon it by their own action.
Ordinarily the simple performance of duty is so blessed of God, that men who live in the doing of it, are the best off, in all respects, even in this world.