In this all-important respect I do not hesitate
to say we theorists and abstractionists of the North, throughout that
long anti-slavery discussion which ended with the 1861 clash of arms,
were thoroughly wrong. In utter disregard of fundamental, scientific
facts, we theoretically believed that all men--no matter what might be
the color of their skin, or the texture of their hair--were, if placed
under exactly similar conditions, in essentials the same. In other
words, we indulged in the curious and, as is now admitted, utterly
erroneous theory that the African was, so to speak, an Anglo-Saxon, or,
if you will, a Yankee "who had never had a chance,"--a fellow-man who
was guilty, as we chose to express it, of a skin not colored like our
own. In other words, though carved in ebony, he also was in the image
of God.
Following out this theory, under the lead of men to whom scientific
analysis and observation were anathema if opposed to accepted cardinal
political theories as enunciated in the Declaration as read by them, the
African was not only emancipated, but so far as the letter of the law,
as expressed in an amended Constitution, would establish the fact, the
quondam slave was in all respects placed on an equality, political,
legal and moral, with those of the more advanced race.
I do not hesitate here,--as one who largely entertained the theoretical
views I have expressed,--I do not hesitate here to say, as the result of
sixty years of more careful study and scientific observation, the
theories then entertained by us were not only fundamentally wrong, but
they further involved a problem in the presence of which I confess
to-day I stand appalled.
Pages:
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28