The general decrease, while population is
increasing, is encouraging; but lynching itself
is a horrible crime; and lynching for one
crime begets lynching for another. Of the
total number lynched last year, nine were
whites; sixty-five were negroes, among them
three women; and only twenty-two were
for crimes of negroes against white women.
The other crimes were murder, attempts to
murder, robbery, arson, etc.
Census returns indicate that in the country
at large the criminality of the negro, as
compared with that of the white man, is
nearly three times greater, and that the
ratio of negro criminality is much higher
North than South. Such returns also indicate
that so far education has not lessened
negro criminality,[99] but it is not known that
any well-educated negro has been guilty of
the crime against white women.
The dislike of negroes for whites has been
increased South by the laws which separate
them from whites in schools, public conveyances,
etc. But it is to be remembered
that these laws were intended to prevent
intermarriage; they are in part the result of
race antipathies. But the sound reason for
them is that they tend to prevent intimacies
which, at the points where the races are in
closest touch with each other, might result
in intermarriage. Professor E. D. Cope, of
the University of Pennsylvania, one of the
very highest of American authorities on the
race question, in a powerful article published
in 1890,[100] advocated the deportation of the
negroes from the South, no matter at what
cost. Otherwise he predicted eventual amalgamation,
which would be the destruction of
a large portion of the finest race in the world.
This little study now comes to a close. An
effort has been made to sketch briefly in this
chapter the difficulties the South has encountered
in dealing with the negro problem,
and to outline the measure of success
it has achieved. However imperfectly the
author may have performed his task, it must
be clear to the reader that no such problem
as the present was ever before presented to
a self-governing people. Never was there
so much need of that culture from which
alone can come a high sense of duty to
others. The negro must be encouraged to
be self-helpful and useful to the community.
If he is to do all this and remain a separate
race, he must have leadership among his
own people. In the Mississippi Black Belt
there is now a town of some 4,000 negroes,
Mound Bayou, completely organized and
prospering. It may be that in the future
negroes seeking among themselves the amenities
of life may congregate into communities
of their own, cultivating adjacent lands,
as the French do in their agricultural villages.
Wherever they may be, they must
practise the civic virtues, honesty, and obedience
to law. W. H. Councill, a negro
teacher, of Huntsville, Alabama, said some
years since in a magazine article: "When
the gray-haired veterans who followed Lee
and Jackson pass away, the negro will have
lost his best friends." This is true, but it is
hoped that time and culture, while not producing
social equality, will allay race animosities
and bring the negro other friends
to take the place of the departing veterans.
The South is exerting itself to better its
common schools, but it cannot compete in
this regard with the North. Northern philanthropists
are quite properly contributing
to education in the South. They should
consider well the needs of both races. Any
attempt to give to the negroes advantages
superior to those of the whites, who are now
treating the negro fairly in this respect,
might look like another attempt to put, in
negro language, "the bottom rail on top."
Looking over the whole field covered by
this sketch, it is wonderful to note how the
chain of causation stretches back into the
past. Reconstruction was a result of the
war; secession and war resulted from a movement
in the North, in 1831, against conditions
then existing in the South. The negro,
the cause of the old quarrel between the sections,
is located now much as he was then.
How full of lessons, for both the South and
the North, is the history of the last eighty
years!
There is even a chord that connects the
burning of a negro at Coatesville, Pennsylvania,
by an excited mob on the 13th of
August, 1911, with the burning of the Federal
Constitution at Framingham, Massachusetts,
by that other excited mob of madmen,
under Garrison, on the fourth day of July,
1854. One body of outlaws was defying the
laws of Pennsylvania; the other was defying
the fundamental laws of the nation.
Abolitionists, mobbed,
71;
burn U. S. Constitution, 72;
private lives of leaders irreproachable, 89;
become factor in national politics; Boston captured by; "slave-catchers" now mobbed; national election turns on vote, 95-6;
anti-slavery in Faneuil Hall, 97;
election again turns on vote of, 99;
impartial observer on influence of, 105;
Professor Smith on, 106
Abolition petitions in Congress, influence of,
102
Abolition societies, in 1840,
93
Adams, John Quincy, becomes champion of Abolitionists,
90;
defends right of petition, 91
Alien and Sedition laws, 1798,
18;
nature of, 19
Americans, world's record for hard fighting,
201
Andrews, Prof. E. A., slavery conditions South,
79
Anti-slavery people and Abolitionists grouped,
104;
Douglas charged "Black Republican" party with favoring "negro citizenship and negro equality," 167
Aristocracy in South,
159,
160,
161
Articles of Confederation,
15
Author, antecedents, explanation of,
10-
11
Author's conclusions,
242-
3-
4
Biglow Papers,
97-
8
Birney, James G., mobbed,
87
Boston meeting, Dr. Hart overlooks,
73
Boston Resolutions,
64
Burke, Edmund, on conciliation,
109;
spirit of liberty in slave-holding communities, 158
Calhoun, John C., prophecy of,
167-
8
Cause of sectional conflict, Abolition societies and their methods,
205
Channing, Dr. Wm. E., encomium on Great Britain,
39;
letter to Webster, 47;
opinion of Abolitionists, 87;
his change, 88
Characters and careers, of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis,
188-
192
Churches, North and South, opposition to slavery; a stupendous change,
67;
"whole cloth arrayed against" Garrison, 68;
Southern churches still defend slavery; Northern changed; Methodist church disrupted, 70
Coatesville lynching,
224
Colonies, juxtaposed, not united,
15
Colonization Society, origin of and purposes,
44;
its supporters, 45;
making progress; Abolitionists halted it, 46
Compromise of 1850; excitement in Congress,
106;
great leaders in; Webster on 7th of March, 107;
Clay's speech, 112;
new fugitive slave law gave offence, 128
Confederate States with old Constitution—changes slight,
186
Constitution, Alien and Sedition Laws first palpable infringement,
3;
powers conferred by discussed, 16;
as supreme law Southerners still cling to, 207
Cope, Prof. E. D., advocated deportation to prevent amalgamation,
241
Cotton gin, accepted theory as to denied,
12
Courage of, and losses in, both armies,
195
Criminality, of negroes greater than of whites,
240
Cromwell and the Great Revolution, analogy to,
8
Curtis, George Ticknor, quotation from "Life of Buchanan,"
14
Davis, Jefferson, farewell speech,
181;
doubts about success—sadness, 190
Democrats, North, opposed negro suffrage,
212
Deportation, no country ready to take negro,
82
Disunion, project among Federalist leaders, 1803-4,
25;
sentiment in Congress, 1794, 24
Emancipation, easy North; difficult South,
40;
Federal government, no power over, 41;
status North in 1830, 52
Emancipations, South, what accomplished in 1831,
50;
census tables, 51
Embargo of 1807, why repealed,
26
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, eulogizes John Brown,
15
Everett, Edward, denunciation of John Brown expedition,
152
Extradition, refused, of abductors of slaves, Supreme Court powerless,
176
Federalists, construed Constitution liberally,
17
Fite, Professor at Yale, declares Republicans in 1860 hoped to destroy slavery,
175;
justification of secession, 182
Freedman's Bureau, its composition,
221
Free speech, Channing defends Abolitionists as champions of,
87;
John Quincy Adams becomes advocate, 90
Fugitive slave law, North not opposing in 1828,
53;
Missouri Compromise provided for, 54
Garrison, William Lloyd, began
Liberator; personality and characteristics,
56;
key-note, slavery the concern of all; slave-holders to be made odious, 58
Godkin, E. L., on negro as factor in politics,
237
Greeley, Horace, draws comfort from John Brown's raid,
153
Hartford Convention,
28
Helper, Hinton Rowan, his book,
165
Higher law idea, prompted Abolition Crusade—and Czolgosz to murder McKinley,
206
Immigration and Union sentiment; number of immigrants,
33;
few South, 34
Incendiary literature, sent South,
62;
North aroused; Andrew Jackson's message, 63;
Boston Resolutions, 64;
indictment in Alabama; requisition on Governor of New York, 98
Incompatibility of slavery and freedom; Lincoln's Springfield speech,
81;
Garrison first to announce doctrine; Abraham Lincoln next; then Seward, 147-8
Insurrections, Denmark Vesey plot at Charleston,
59;
Nat Turner in Virginia; Walker's pamphlet, 60
Irish patriots, Mitchel and Meagher, divide on secession,
35
John Brown's raid,
149;
his secret committee, 151
Johnson, Andrew, succeeding Lincoln, carried out plan,
213
Johnston, Sir Harry, on negro in South, highest degree of advancement,
237
Kansas, fierce struggles in; Sumner's bitter speech,
142-
3
Kansas-Nebraska Act, Douglas originated,
135;
aggravated sectionalism, 136
Kentucky Resolutions, 1798,
19;
Jefferson the author, 20;
copy of first of, 21
Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798-9;
Secessionists relied on, 21;
Jefferson and Madison's reasons for, 22
Know-Nothing party, its origin; purposes; appeal for the Union,
140-
1-
2
Las Casas, Bishop, advice to King of Spain,
237
Liberia, sending negroes to, called "expatriation"; enterprise a failure,
46;
Lincoln's hopes of, 81;
why it failed—Miss Mahoney's account, 169-70-71
Lincoln, South no more responsible for slavery than North,
49;
speech at Charleston, Ill., 81;
finds no country ready to take American negro, 82;
South in 1860 thought him radical; had favored white supremacy in 1858, 185;
speech at Peoria, 186;
assassination of, 209
Lodge, Henry Cabot, declares popular verdict against Webster,
118;
he had undertaken the impossible, 120;
his argument good, he not man to make it, 121
Lundy, Benjamin, attempts to stir up North against slavery South,
47
Lynchings, tables,
239;
comments on, 240
McMaster, affirms Webster behind the times (note),
100
Missouri, controversy over slavery,
52;
distinct from that begun later by "New Abolitionists," 53
Mobs, Garrison mobbed; many anti-slavery riots North,
71;
violence toward Abolitionists in North reacted, 85;
opponents became defenders, 86
Mound Bayou, a negro town,
242
Nationality, spirit of; causes of, development of,
30;
grows, North; South on old lines, 35
Navy, U. S., deciding factor in war,
198-
9
Negro, the, located now much as in 1860,
7;
Lincoln could find no home abroad for, 206;
reasons for smallness of vote South, 233;
improvement; Booker Washington's opinion, 236;
benefited by slavery; attained South highest degree of advancement, 237;
best opportunities South, 241;
Confederate veterans best friends there, 243
Ohio, Resolutions looking to co-operative emancipation; responses of other States to,
42;
Southern reason for, 43;
Northern, kindly temper of, 44
Otis, Harrison Gray, on Boston Resolutions,
65
Pamphlets, venomous one cited,
75
Personal liberty laws, eleven States passed; Alexander Johnston says absolutely without excuse,
177
Petition, right of, in Congress,
90;
"gag resolution," 92
Political conditions, North and South compared,
162-
3-
4
"Poor whites," discussion of, and of social conditions South,
155-
6-
7
Presidential campaign 1860, excitement,
171
Press, Northern slandering South,
153;
Southern slandering North, 154
Race animosities, negro's aspirations to social equality; legal enactments,
238;
whites embittered by crime against white women, 239
Reagan, "Republican rule on Abolition principles,"
105
Reconstruction, Lincoln's theory; veto of resolution asserting power of Congress over,
208;
last speech, adhering to plan, 210
Reconstruction by Johnson under Lincoln plan; wisdom of Lincoln-Johnson plan, John Sherman; opposition to it partisan, Senator Cullom,
211;
South accepts plan; senators and representatives, 214;
negro problem and Jefferson's prediction, 215;
apprenticeship and vagrancy laws, Blaine's attack on, 217
Reconstruction, Congressional, extremists bent on negro suffrage when Congress convened in 1865,
212;
preparations for; committee of fifteen; Shellabarger's appeal to war passions, 215;
South denied representation; Southerners reject Fourteenth Amendment; Garfield denounces rebel government, 219;
Johnson's reconstructed State governments swept away; universal suffrage for negro; South sends Republicans to Congress, 220;
witnesses before "Committee of Fifteen" rewarded; Southern counsels divided, 223;
carpet-baggers and scalawags, 224;
intolerable political conditions; race issue forced upon whites, 226;
whites recover self-government, 227
Republican party, the modern; its origin; Mr. Rhodes on,
138-
139;
nominates Frémont and Dayton; denounces slavery; excitement; defeated, 144
Resources, war, North and South compared,
191-
2-
3
Salem Church monument,
9
Santo Domingo, memory of massacre in,
80
Seceded States, wretched conditions in 1865,
214
Seceding States, desire to preserve Constitution,
179
Secession, early threats of not connected with slavery,
26;
Josiah Quincy threatens, 1811; Massachusetts legislature endorses him, 28;
in early days belief in general, 28;
Massachusetts legislature threatens, 1844, 29;
eleven States seceded, 179;
Prof. Fite justifies, his ground, 182;
motives for in 1860-1, 183
Self-government restored; local clashes, no race war; based on Lincoln's idea, superiority of white man,
229;
constitutional amendments to restore purity of ballot, 233;
industrial results amazing, 234-5;
negro vote small—reasons, 231
Seward, leader of Republican party,
178
Situation in Alabama in 1835—letter of John W. Womack,
79
Slavery, Great Britain abolishes, compensates owners,
39;
South's "calamity not crime," 48;
debate in Virginia Assembly, 61
Slaves, protect masters' families during war,
132-
3;
a surprise to North, 133-4
Slave-trade, New England's part in,
37;
South protests against; sentiment against arises in England, sweeps over America, 38
Social conditions South,
155-
60
South unwilling to accept idea of incompatibility of slave and free States,
94-
5;
bitterness in, 101;
on defensive-aggressive, 126;
excited; filibustering; importation of slaves, 145
Spencer, Herbert, slavery once a necessary phase of human progress,
237
Sprague, Peleg, on Boston Resolutions,
66
Suffrage, Lincoln thought Southerners themselves should control,
203
Sumner, Charles, philippic against South; Brooks's attack on,
143-
4;
negro suffrage to give "Unionists" new allies, 220
Texas, application for admission,
93;
Channing threatens secession if admitted, 94
Tilden, Samuel J., letter to Kent, secession inevitable if Lincoln elected,
172-
3-
4
Underground railroads, Professor Hart's picture of,
103
Union, the, Webster's great speech for in 1830,
31;
effect of, 32
Union sentiment South; Whigs,
34
"Uncle Tom's Cabin," influence on Northern sentiment,
129-
133
War, the, nature of,
180
Washington, a Federalist,
18;
his appeal for Union, 30
Webster, on 7th of March,
107;
his sole concession, 111;
condemns personal liberty laws and Abolitionists, 115;
congratulated and denounced, 117;
"Ichabod," 119;
Rhodes's estimate of, 122;
his speech for "The Constitution and the Union"; Wilkinson's estimate of, 122;
E. P. Wheeler's estimate of, 125;
Webster's opinion of Abolitionists and Free-soilers, 126
Welles, Gideon, opinion in 1867 as to debasing elective franchise,
232
Whites, South, fought fraud with fraud during Reconstruction, till Constitution amended continued it,
232;
difficulties of their task, 233;
growing spirit of altruism; school taxes divided pro rata, 234
Wilmot proviso,
111
Wisconsin nullifies fugitive slave law,
178
Women, devotion of during war, North and South,
195