History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United StatesBarnes, William Horatio
History
History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States
Barnes, William Horatio
United States -- Politics and government -- 1865-1869; United States. Congress (39th : 1865-1867)
Mr. Bingham.--"I understood the gentleman to say, that the colored
race had failed to strike for their rights during the late rebellion.
I wish to remind the gentleman of the fact, which ought to bring a
blush to the cheek of every American citizen, that at the beginning of
this great struggle, a distinguished general, who, I have no doubt,
received the political support of the gentleman himself for the
Presidency, and who, then at the head of an American army within the
Commonwealth of Virginia, issued his proclamation, as general in
command of the army, notifying the insurgents in arms against the
Constitution that, if their slaves rose in revolt for their liberty,
he, Major-General McClellan, by the whole force of the army at his
command, would crush them with an iron hand. Yet the gentleman gets up
here to-day, after a record of that sort, to cast censure upon this
people because they did not strike for their liberties against the
combined armies of the republic and the armies of treason!"
Mr. Chanler.--"My honorable friend from Ohio may have made a good
point against General McClellan, but he has made none against me. I
admit that they have made successful insurrections, but my argument
was not to the effect that the negro race was not capable of the
bloodiest deeds. I avoided entering into that question. I asserted
that they had made successful insurrection; that they had held the
white race under their heel in Hayti and St. Domingo. I would only
say, with regard to this question of race, that I assert there is no
record of the black race having proved its capacity for
self-government as a race; that they have never struck a blow for
freedom, and maintained their freedom and independence as individuals
when free. I appeal to history, and to the gentleman from Ohio [Mr.
Bingham], and I speak as a student of history, and the representative
of a race whose proudest boast is that their capacity for
self-government is the only charter of their liberty. I assail no
race; I assail no man. I have taken the greatest pains to prove that
the inalienable rights of the black man are as sacred to me as those
inalienable rights I have received from my God. If the gentleman
misunderstood me, I hope he will accept this explanation. If I have
not met his question, I will now yield the floor to him to continue."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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