If that is the correct definition then we are liable to have "Negro
Domination" not only in States, districts, and counties where the blacks
are in the majority, but in States, districts and counties where they
are few in numbers. If that is the correct definition of "Negro
Domination,"--to prevent which the negro vote should be
suppressed,--then the suppression of that vote is not only necessary in
States, districts, and counties in which the blacks are in the majority,
but in every State, district, and county in the Union; for it will not
be denied that the primary purpose of the ballot,--whether the voters be
white or colored, male or female,--is to make each vote decisive and
potential. If the vote of a colored man, or the vote of a white man,
determines the result of an election in which he participates, then the
very purpose for which he was given the right and privilege will have
been accomplished, whether the result, as we understand it, be wise or
unwise.
In this connection it cannot and will not be denied that the colored
vote has been decisive and potential in very many important National as
well as local and State elections. For instance, in the Presidential
election of 1868, General Grant, the Republican candidate, lost the
important and pivotal State of New York, a loss which would have
resulted in his defeat if the Southern States that took part in that
election had all voted against him. That they did not do so was due to
the votes of the colored men in those States. Therefore Grant's first
administration represented "Negro Domination."
Again, in 1876, Hayes was declared elected President by a majority of
one vote in the electoral college. This was made possible by the result
of the election in the States of Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida,
about which there was much doubt and considerable dispute, and over
which there was a bitter controversy. But for the colored vote in those
States there would have been no doubt, no dispute, no controversy. The
defeat of Mr. Hayes and the election of Mr. Tilden would have been an
undisputed and an uncontested fact. Therefore, the Hayes administration
represented "Negro Domination."
Again, in 1880, General Garfield, the Republican candidate for
President, carried the State of New York by a plurality of about 20,000,
without which he could not have been elected. It will not be denied by
those who are well informed that if the colored men that voted for him
in that State at that time had voted against him, he would have lost the
State and, with it, the Presidency. Therefore, the Garfield-Arthur
administration represented "Negro Domination."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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