Part 256 (1/2)

ON THE CONDITION OF THE FREE PEOPLE OF COLOR.

It appears from the census of 1830, that there were then 319,467 free colored persons in the United States. At the present time the number cannot be less than 360,000. Fifteen States of the Federal Union have each a smaller population than this aggregate. Hence if the whole ma.s.s of human beings inhabiting Connecticut, or New Jersey, or any other of these fifteen States, were subjected to the ignorance, and degradation, and persecution and terror we are about to describe, as the lot of this much injured people, the amount of suffering would still be numerically less than that inflicted by a professedly Christian and republican community upon the free negroes. Candor, however, compels us to admit that, deplorable as is their condition, it is still not so wretched as Colonizationists and slaveholders, for obvious reasons, are fond of representing it. It is not true that free negroes are ”more vicious and miserable than slaves _can_ be,”[97] nor that ”it would be as humane to throw slaves from the decks of the middle pa.s.sage, as to set them free in this country,”[98]

nor that ”a sudden and universal emanc.i.p.ation without colonization, would be a greater CURSE to the slaves themselves, than the bondage in which they are held.”

[Footnote 97: Rev. Mr. Bacon, of New Haven, 7 Rep. Am. Col. Soc.

p. 99.]

[Footnote 98: African Repository, Vol. IV. p. 226.]

It is a little singular, that in utter despite of these rash a.s.sertions slaveholders and colonizationists unite in a.s.suring us, that the slaves are rendered _discontented_ by _witnessing_ the freedom of their colored brethren; and hence we are urged to a.s.sist in banis.h.i.+ng to Africa these sable and dangerous mementoes of liberty.

We all know that the wife and children of the free negro are not ordinarily sold in the market--that he himself does not toil under the lash, and that in certain parts of our country he is permitted to acquire some intelligence, and to enjoy some comforts, utterly and universally denied to the slave. Still it is most unquestionable, that these people grievously suffer from a cruel and wicked prejudice--cruel in its consequences; wicked in its voluntary adoption, and its malignant character.

Colonizationists have taken great pains to inculcate the opinion that prejudice against color is implanted in our nature by the Author of our being; and whence they infer the futility of every effort to elevate the colored man in this country, and consequently the duty and benevolence of sending him to Africa, beyond the reach of our cruelty.[99] The theory is as false in fact as it is derogatory to the character of that G.o.d whom we are told is LOVE. With what astonishment and disgust should we behold an earthly parent exciting feuds and animosities among his own children; yet we are a.s.sured, and that too by professing Christians, that our heavenly Father has implanted a principle of hatred, repulsion and alienation between certain portions of his family on earth, and then commanded them, as if in mockery, to ”love one another.”

[Footnote 99: ”Prejudices, which neither refinement, nor argument, nor education, NOR RELIGION ITSELF can subdue, mark the people of color, whether bond or free, as the subjects of a degradation _inevitable and incurable_.”--_Address of the Connecticut Col.

Society_. ”The managers consider it clear that causes exist, and are now operating, to prevent their improvement and elevation to any considerable extent as a cla.s.s in this country, which are fixed, not only beyond the control of the friends of humanity, but of _any human power_: CHRISTIANITY cannot do for them here, what it will do for them in Africa. This is not the _fault_ of the colored man, _nor of the white man_, but an ORDINATION OF PROVIDENCE, _and no more to be changed than the laws of nature_.”--15 Rep. Am. Col. Soc.

p. 47.

”The people of color must, in this country, remain for ages, probably for ever, a separate and distinct caste, weighed down by causes powerful, universal, invincible, which neither legislation nor CHRISTIANITY can remove.”--African Repository Vol. VIII. p. 196.

”Do they (the abolitionists) not perceive that in thus confounding all the distinctions which G.o.d himself has made, they arraign the wisdom and goodness of Providence itself? It has been His divine pleasure, to make the black man black, and the white man white, and to distinguish them by other _repulsive_ const.i.tutional differences.”--Speech in Senate of the United States, February 7, 1839, by HENRY CLAY, PRESIDENT OF THE AM. COL. SOC.]

In vain do we seek in nature, for the origin of this prejudice. Young children never betray it, and on the continent of Europe it is unknown. We are not speaking of matters of taste, or of opinions of personal beauty, but of a prejudice against complexion, leading to insult, degradation and oppression. In no country in Europe is any man excluded from refined society, or deprived of literary, religious, or political privileges on account of the tincture of his skin. If this prejudice is the fiat of the Almighty, most wonderful is it, that of all the kindreds of the earth, none have been found submissive to the heavenly impulse, excepting the white inhabitants of North America; and of these, it is no less strange than true, that this divine principle of repulsion is most energetic in such persons as, in other respects, are the least observant of their Maker's will. This prejudice is sometimes erroneously regarded as the _cause_ of slavery; and some zealous advocates of emanc.i.p.ation have flattered themselves that, could the prejudice be destroyed, negro slavery would fall with it. Such persons have very inadequate ideas of the malignity of slavery. They forget that the slaves in Greece and Rome were of the same hue as their masters; and that at the South, the value of a slave, especially of a female, rises, as the complexion recedes from the African standard.

Were we to inquire into the geography of this prejudice, we should find that the localities in which it attains its rankest luxuriance, are not the rice swamps of Georgia, nor the sugar fields of Louisiana, but the hills and valleys of New England, and the prairies of Ohio!

It is a fact of acknowledged notoriety, that however severe may be the laws against colored people at the South, the prejudice against their _persons_ is far weaker than among ourselves.

It is not necessary for our present purpose, to enter into a particular investigation of the condition of the free negroes in the slave States. We all know that they suffer every form of oppression which the laws can inflict upon persons not actually slaves. That unjust and cruel enactments should proceed from a people who keep two millions of their fellow men in abject bondage, and who believe such enactments essential to the maintenance of their despotism, certainly affords no cause for surprise.

We turn to the free States, where slavery has not directly steeled our hearts against human suffering, and where no supposed danger of insurrection affords a pretext for keeping the free blacks in ignorance and degradation; and we ask, what is the character of the prejudice against color _here_? Let the Rev. Mr. Bacon, of Connecticut, answer the question. This gentleman, in a vindication of the Colonization Society, a.s.sures us, ”The _Soodra_ is not farther separated from the _Brahim_ in regard to all his privileges, civil, intellectual, and moral, than the negro from the white man by the prejudices which result from the difference made between them by THE G.o.d OF NATURE.”--(_Rep. Am. Col. Soc._ p. 87.)

We may here notice the very opposite effect produced on Abolitionists and Colonizationists, by the consideration that this difference _is_ made by the G.o.d OF NATURE; leading the one to discard the prejudice, and the other to banish its victims.

With these preliminary remarks we will now proceed to take a view of the condition of the free people of color in the non-slaveholding States; and will consider in order, the various disabilities and oppressions to which they are subjected, either by law or the customs of society.

1. GENERAL EXCLUSION FROM THE ELECTIVE FRANCHISE.

Were this exclusion founded on the want of property, or any other qualification deemed essential to the judicious exercise of the franchise, it would afford no just cause of complaint; but it is founded solely on the color of the skin, and is therefore irrational and unjust. That taxation and representation should be inseparable, was one of the axioms of the fathers of our revolution; and one of the reasons they a.s.signed for their revolt from the crown of Britain.

But _now_, it is deemed a mark of fanaticism to complain of the disfranchis.e.m.e.nt of a whole race, while they remain subject to the burden of taxation. It is worthy of remark, that of the thirteen original States, only _two_ were so recreant to the principles of the Revolution, as to make a _white skin_ a qualification for suffrage. But the prejudice has grown with our growth, and strengthened with our strength; and it is believed that in _every_ State const.i.tution subsequently formed or revised,[excepting Vermont and Maine, and the Revised const.i.tution of Ma.s.sachusetts,]

the crime of a dark complexion has been punished, by debarring its possessor from all approach to the ballot-box.[100] The necessary effect of this proscription in aggravating the oppression and degradation of the colored inhabitants must be obvious to all who call to mind the solicitude manifested by demagogues, and office-seekers, and law makers, to propitiate the good will of all who have votes to bestow.

[Footnote 100: From this remark the revised const.i.tution of New York is _nominally_ an exception; colored citizens, possessing a _freehold_ worth two hundred and fifty dollars, being allowed to vote; while suffrage is extended to _white_ citizens without any property qualification.]