GENEALOGY EXPRESS

 

Welcome to
Black
History & Genealogy

COLORED PATRIOTS
of the
AMERICAN REVOLUTION,
with sketches of several
DISTINGUISHED COLORED PERSONS:
to which is added a brief survey of the
Condition and Prospects of Colored Americans.
By Wm. C. Nell,
with an introduction by
Harriet Beacher Stowe
Published
Boston:
Published by Robert R. Wallcut
1855.

CHAPTER I.

CITIZENSHIP

PROSCRIPTION OF COLORED CITIZENS - NATURALIZATION OF
GEORGE DEGRASSE AND JOHN REMOND -
PASPORTS OF COLORED MEN -
SPEECH OF JOHN MERCER LANGSTON -
VIEWS OF HOSEA EASTON -
EXTRACT FROM A SPEECH OF WM. J. WATKINS.
pg. 311

     IN 1790, (says Judge Jay,) Congress passed an act prescribing the mode in which "any alien, being a white person," might be naturalized, and admitted to the rights of an America citizen.  Two years after, an act was passed for organizing the militia, which was to consist of each and every free able-bodied white male citizen, &c.  No other government on earth prohibits any portion of its citizens from participating in the national defence.  But, not content with this insult to colored citizens, another, and perhaps

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a still more wonton and malignant one, was offered by the government in the act of 1810, organizing the Post-Office Department.  The fourth section enacts that "no other than a free white person shall be employed in carrying the mail of the United States, either as post-rider or driver of a carriage carrying the mail," under a penalty of fifty dollars.
     Any vagabond from Europe, any fugitive from our own prisons, may take charge of the United States mail; but a native-born American citizen, of unimpeachable morals, and with property acquired by honest industry, may not, if his skin be dark, guide the horses which draw the carriage in which a bag of newspapers is deposited!
     The following letter of instructions from the Postmaster General to one of his deputies, written in 1828, is a curious commentary on this law: -

     "SIR, - The mail may not, in any case whatever, be in the custody of a colored person.  If a colored person is employed to lift the mail from the stage into the post-office, it does not pass into his custody, but the labor is performed in the presence and under the immediate direction of the white person who has it in custody; but if a colored person takes it from a tavern and carries it himself to the post-office, it comes into his custody during the time of carrying it, which is contrary to law.

  "I am, &c., JOHN McLEAN."

     In the United States Senate, July 29, 1842, the bill regulating enlistments in the Navy was discussed.  Mr. Calhoun moved an amendment, that white men only should be en-

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listed, except for cooks, servants, and stewards, for which offices negroes or mulattoes might be employed.
     Mr. Woodbury, of New Hampshire, supported the amendment.
     Mr. Phelps, of Vermont, and Mr. Clayton, of Delaware, objected; and each cited instances of the colored man's valor, and enforced his claim to being enrolled as other Americans.
     The amendment was, however, adopted, by a vote of twenty-four to sixteen; as was, also, that of Mr. Preston, (of South Carolina,) prohibiting the enlistment of negroes in the Army.  And this, notwithstanding the fact, that the victory upon Champlain has been well-known to have been achieved, in part, by the valor of colored men.  That upon Erie, so far as aided by colored men's valort has been in doubt, and in some quarters has been denied.  Says Mr. Day, "I desire to refer you to the proof of the position, that colored men were with Commodore Perry on Lake Erie, and that they were as good hands as others.  Writing to Commodore Chauncey, the senior officer, Captain Perry, said — 'The men that came by Mr. Champlin are a motley set, blacks, soldiers, and boys.  I am, however, pleased to see any thing in the shape of a man.'  So much as to the fact that there were 'blacks' to help man the squadron.
     "To show that many of the colored men upon Lakes Erie and Champlain were among the best, I quote the fol-

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lowing from a letter of Commodore Chauncey to Captain Perry: —

  ON BOARD THE "PIKE," OFF BURLINGTON BAY,}
                                          July 13th.                              }

     Sir, — I have been duly honored with your letters of the 23d and 26th ultimo, and notice your anxiety for men and officers.  I am equally anxious to furnish you, and no time shall be lost in sending officers and men to you, as soon as the public service will allow me to send them from this lake.  I regret that you are not pleased with the men sent you by Messrs. Champlin and Forrest; for, to my knowledge, a part of them are not surpassed by any seamen we have in the fleets; and I have yet to learn, that the color of the skin, or the cut and trimmings of the coat, can affect a man's qualifications or usefulness.  I have nearly fifty blacks on board of this ship, and many of them are among my best men; and those people you call soldiers have been to sea from two to seventeen years, and I presume that you will find them as good and useful as any men on board of your vessel, — at least, if I can judge by comparison, for those which we have on board this ship are attentive and obedient, and, as far as I can judge, many of them excellent seamen; at any rate, the men sent to Lake Erie have been selected with a view of sending a fair proportion of petty officers and seamen, and I presume, upon examination, it will be found they are equal to those upon this
lake.
     "So fat as to the capacity of colored men with Commodore Perry."
     The managers of the Park Theatre, in New York city, in testimony of the bravery of the lamented Captain Lawrence and his crew, manifested in the brilliant action with the British sloop-of-war "Peacock," invited him and them to a

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play in honor of the victory achieved on that occasion.  The crew marched together into the pit, and nearly one half of them were negroes.
     In March, 1855, Hon. T. D. Eliot, of Massachusetts, succeeded in obtaining the compensation of Peter Amey, a colored man of New Bedford, who fought on board the "Essex," in 1812.  His motion was opposed by Mr. Chastain, of Georgia; but as Mr. Eliot intimated that he should then
probably oppose other private claims, Mr. Seward, of Georgia, remarked that Georgia would lose her claims, and Mr. Chastain withdrew his opposition, and the bill passed to a third reading.
     The Homestead Bill was adopted by Congress in March, 1854, with an amendment to limit its grant of land to white persons only.  Thomas Davis, of Rhode Island, Joshua R. Giddings, of Ohio, and Gerrit Smith, of New York, with others, ably and strenuously advocated the rights of colored Americans, but were voted down, seventy-one to sixty-three.
     Public bodies and the press have, during the past few years, discussed several questions bearing on the right of colored men to the privileges of citizenship.  The following facts showing the theory and practice of this government, capricious as the latter has been, yet furnish precedents favorable to the colored man.
     Distinctions of color are not recognised in the letter of the United States Constitution; yet that instrument leaves it in the power of Congress and individual States to trample on or acknowledge, as tyranny may dictate, the rights of colored citizens.

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     Congress can as well naturalize Asiatics, South Americans and Africans, as Europeans; and yet, for reasons best known to the Slave Power which rules this nation, the in stances are few and far between where colored aliens have received naturalization papers.  One case, however, occurred, as early as 1804, where a colored man received a certificate of naturalization, of which the following is a copy:

CITY OF NEW YORK, ss.
     Be it remembered, that GEORGE DEGRASSE, of the city of New York, servant, who hath resided within the limits and jurisdiction of the United States for the term of five years, and within this State of New York for the term of one year at least, appeared in the Court of Common Pleas, called the Mayor's Court, and which is a common law court of record held in and for the city and county of New York in the State of New York, on Thursday, the fifth day of July, in the year one thousand eight hundred and four, and having made proof to the satisfaction of said Court that he is a person of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the same, and having in the said Court taken the oath prescribed by law to support the Constitution of the United States, and did in open Court absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to every foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, and particularly to the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, of whom he was then a subject, the said George Degrasse was thereupon, pursuant to the laws of the United States in such case made and provided, admitted by the said Court to be, and he is accordingly to be, considered a citizen of the United States.
     Given under the seal of the said Court, the day and year above written.

  Per curiam, T. WOODMAN, Clerk

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     Mr. DeGrasse has since resided in New York city, where, for more than fifty years, he has regularly voted for United States and State officers.
     The following account of Dr. John V. Degrasse, a son of the above-named, by a correspondent of the New York Independent, will be found of interest in this connection: —

     " August 24th, 1854, Mr. DeGrasse was admitted in due form a member of the 'Massachusetts Medical Society.'  It is the first instance of such honor being conferred upon a colored man in this State, at least, and probably in the country; and therefore it deserves particular notice, both because the means by which he has reached this distinction are creditable to his own intelligence and perseverance, and because others of his class may be stimulated to seek an elevation which has hitherto been supposed unattainable by men of color.  The Doctor is a native of New York city, where he was born June, 1825, and where he spent his time in private and public schools till 1840.  He then .entered the Oneida Institute, Beriah Green, President, and spent one year; but as Latin was not taught there, he left and entered the Clinton Seminary, where he remained two years, intending to enter college in the fall of 1843.  He was turned from this purpose, however, by the persuasions of a friend in France, and after spending two years in a college in that country, he returned to New York in November, 1845, and commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Samuel R. Childs, of that city.  There he spent two years in patient and diligent study, and then two more in attend-

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ing the medical lectures of Bowdoin College, Me.  Leaving that institution with honor in May, 1849, he went again to Europe in the autumn of that year, and spent considerable time in the hospitals of Paris, travelling, at intervals, through parts of France, England, Italy, and Switzerland.  Returning home in the ship 'Samuel Fox,' in the capacity of surgeon, he was married in August, 1852, and since that time, he has practised medicine in Boston.  Earning a good reputation here by his diligence and skill, he was admitted a member of the Medical Society, as above stated.  Many of our most respectable physicians visit and advise with him whenever counsel is required.  The Boston medical profession, it must be acknowledged, has done itself honor in thus discarding the law of caste, and generously acknowledging real merit, without regard to the hue of the skin."

     In the Doctor's study hangs his diploma, and a beautiful painting, ("The Ship Outward Bound,") executed by a young colored artist, Mr. Edward Bannister, which is enclosed in an elaborate gilt frame, the work of a young colored mechanic, Mr. Jacob Andrews, — the whole being a joint presentation to their professional friend.  Such tributes of genius and skill harmonize well with every worthy effort for the elevation of those in this land with whom the donors are identified by complexion and condition.

     In 1811, JOHN REMOND was successful in his application for naturalization, in form as follows: —

ESSEX, ss.
     At the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, begun and holden at Ipswich, within and for the county.

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of ESSE, on the fourth Tuesday of April, Anno Domini 1811, JOHN REDMOND, late of the Island of Cura<;oa and town of Cura?oa, formerly subject to the government of the States General, but now to George the Third, King of the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland, now resident at Salem, in said county of Essex, Hair-Dresser, took and subscribed the oath and declaration required by law.  And thereupon he, the said JOHN REMOND, was admitted to become a citizen of the United States, according to the laws in such case
made and provided.
     In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and affixed the seal of said Court, on this second day of May, Anno Domini 1811.

  ICHABOD TUCKER
              
Clerk of the Court aforesaid
 

     Several distinguished colored Americans have succeeded in obtaining passports.  The following circumstance is related in a letter from the Rev. A. A. Phelps, dated May 24, 1834, to William Goodell: — " On Tuesday evening, I took tea at Mr. Forten's, (a well-known manufacturer and merchant of Philadelphia — a man of color,) in company with Brothers Leavitt, Pomeroy, and Dr. Lansing.  It was a very pleasant interview, and not the least pleasing thing about it is the following: — We were scarcely seated, before in came Robert Vaux, Esq., with a passport for Robert Purvis and wife, under the seal of the Secretary of State, certifying that the said Purvis and wife were citizens of the United StatesMr. Purvis is son-in-law to Mr. Forten.  He was about to visit Europe for his health, and in some of the countries on the Continent, as in France, a passport is

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necessary, certifying who the person is, where from, &c.  The application was made through Robert Vaux, Esq., and on the representation of the case by him, it was at once granted."
     Mr. Robert Purvis, in a letter to Mr. Garrison, dated London, July 13, 1834, says: — "I had, at the House of Commons, an introduction to the Hon. Daniel O. Connell.  On my being presented to the Irish patriot as an American gentleman, he declined taking my hand; but when he understood that I was not only identified with the Abolitionists, but with the proscribed and oppressed colored men of the United States, he grasped my hand, and, warmly shaking it, remarked, — "Sir, I will never take the hand of an American, nor should any honest man in this country do so, without first knowing his principles in reference to American slavery, and its ally, the American Colonization Society."
     REV. PETER WILLIAMS also received a passport from John Forsyth, Secretary of State, the 17th of March, 1836, requesting "all whom it may concern to permit safely and freely to pass, Rev. Peter Williams, a citizen of the United States, and in case of need, to give him all lawful aid and protection.
     REV. PETER WILLIAMS, JR., was born in Brunswick, N. J., December, 1786.  His father was proprietor of the largest tobacco manufactory then in the city of New York, and was the first to introduce steam power to drive its machinery.  Mr. WILLIAMS was for twenty years (until his

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death, in 1840) pastor of St. Phillips' Episcopal Church.  Aside from his pulit efforts, he contributed many able, eloquent and practical effusions, through pamphlets and newspapers, in aid of the colored American's elevation.  We learn, from a memoir by Dr. James Mc' Cune Smith, that "he had mastered Logic and Algebra, read Latin with some facility, was extravagantly fond of Metaphysics, and, what is remarkable with the slender advantages he enjoyed, he had formed a style in composition so clear, concise and elegant, that few men of twice his years and with every advantage, have excelled it.  His oration on the Abolition of the Slave Trade, delivered January, 1808, when he was just twenty-one years of age, was discredited as having emanated from his pen, - and it was deemed necessary that his certificate to that effect should be published, confirmed by Rt. Rev. Benjamin Morse, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and others.
     During the reign of terror to which Anti-Slavery men and women were subjected, in the years 1833, '4 and '5, Mr. Williams was induced by his Bishop, for church reasons, to abstain from taking part in the anti-slavery agitation.  His letter was published, and created much sensation at the time, especially among many of his former associates.  It is due, however, to his memory, to state, (which we do upon the most reliable authority,) that the Bishop suppressed those passages which Mr. Williams had confidently relied upon to modify the objections of his friends.  His natural diffidence of character deterred him from making an explanation.

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From that letter the following reminiscences are extracted: —    

     "In the Revolutionary War, my father was a decided advocate of American Independence, and his life was repeatedly jeopardized in its cause.  Permit me to relate an instance, which shows that neither the British sword nor British gold could make him a traitor to his country.  He was living in the State of Jersey, and parson Chapman, a champion of American liberty of great influence throughout that part of the country, was sought after by the British troops.  My father immediately mounted a horse and rode round among his parishioners to notify them 6f his danger, and to call on them to help in removing him and his goods to a place of safety. He then carried him to a private place, and as he was returning, a British officer rode up to him, and demanded, in a most peremptory manner, —
     " 'Where is parson Chapman ? '
     " 'I cannot tell,' was the reply.
     "On that, the officer drew his sword, and, raising it over
his head, said, — ' Tell me where he is, or I will instantly
cut you down.'
     "Again he replied, — ' I cannot tell.'
     "Finding threats useless, the officer put up his sword, and drew out a purse of gold, saying, — 'If you will tell me where he is, I will give you this.'
     "The reply still was, ' I cannot tell.'
     "The officer cursed him, and rode off.
     "This attachment to the country of his birth was strength-

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ened and confirmed by the circumstance, that the very day on which the British evacuated New York was the same on which he obtained his freedom by purchase, through the help of some republican friends of the Methodist Church; and to the last year of his life, he always spoke of that day as one which gave double joy to his heart, by freeing him from domestic bondage, and his native city from foreign enemies.

*         *          *          *          *

     "Reared with these feelings, though fond of retirement, I felt a burning desire to be useful to my brethren and my country, and when the last war between this country and Great Britain broke out, I felt happy to render the humble services of my pen, my tongue, and my hands, towards rearing fortifications to defend our shores against invasion.  I entreated my brethren to help in the defence of the country, and went with them to the work; and no sacrifice has been considered too great by me for the benefit of it or them."
     WILLIAM WELLS BROWN on leaving the United States for Europe, obtained, through the intercession of a friend, a passport signed by Wm. B. Calhoun, Secretary of State for Massachusetts.  The following letter from Mr. Brown, covering the passport obtained in London, countersigned by a son of Ex-Governor John Davis, is instructive and interesting: -

    LONDON, Nov. 22, 1849

WENDELL PHILLIPS, Esq.:
     DEAR FRIEND - I observe in the American papers an elaborate discussion upon the subject of passports for colored men.  What

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must the inhabitants of other countries think of the people of the United States, when they read, as they do, the editorials of some of the Southern papers against recognizing colored Americans as citizens? In looking over some of these articles, I hare felt ashamed that I had the misfortune to be born in such a country.  We may search history in vain to find a people who have sunk themselves as low, and made themselves appear as infamous by their treatment of their fellow-men, as have the people of the United States.  If colored men make their appearance in the slave States as seamen, they are imprisoned until the departure of the vessel.  If they make their appearance at the capital of the country, unless provided with free papers, they are sold for the benefit of the Government.  In most of the States we are disfranchised, our children are shut out from the public schools, and embarrassments are thrown in the way of every attempt to elevate ourselves.  And after they have degraded us, sold us, mobbed us, and done every thing in their power to oppress us, then, if we wish to leave the country, they refuse us passports, upon the ground that we are not citizens.  This is emphatically an age of discoveries; but I will venture the assertion, that none but an American slaveholder could have discovered that a man born in a country was not a citizen of it.  Their chosen motto, that "all men are created equal," when compared with their treatment of the colored people of the country, sinks them lower and lower in the estimation of the good and wise of all lands.  In your letter of the 15th ult., you ask if I succeeded in getting a passport from the American Minister in London, previous to going to Paris to attend the Peace Congress.  Through the magnanimity of the French Government, all delegates to the Congress were permitted to pass freely without passports.  I did not, therefore, apply for one.  But as I intend soon to visit the Continent, and shall then need one, I called a few days since on the American Minister, and was furnished with a passport, of which the following is a copy.  If

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it will be of any service in the discussion upon that subject, you are at perfect liberty to use it: —"

"LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN ENGLAND.
PASSPORT NO. 33.

     The undersigned, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America at the Court of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, begs all whom it may concern to allow safely and freely to pass, and in case of need, to give aid and protection to

MR. WILLIAM W. BROWN,

a citizen of the United States, going on the Continent.
     Given under my signature, and the imprint of the seal of the legation in London, Oct. 31, 1849, the 74th year of the independence of the United States.

For for Minister,
               JOHN C. B. DAVIS,
                              Secretary of Legation."

     So you see, my friend, that though we are denied citizenship in America, and refused passports at home when wishing to visit foreign countries, they dare not refuse us a passport when we apply for it in old England.  There is a public sentiment here, that, hard hearted as the Americans are, they fear.  When will the Americans learn, that if they would encourage liberty in other countries, they must practice it at home?  If they would inspire the hearts of the struggling millions in Europe, they should not allow one human being to wear chains upon their own soil.  If they would welcome the martyrs for freedom from the banks of the Danube, the Tiber and the Seine, let them liberate their own slaves on the banks of the Mississippi and the Potomac.  If they would welcome the Hungarian flying from the bloody talons of the Austrian eagle, they must

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wrest the three millions of slaves from the talons of their own.  They cannot welcome the wanderer from the battle-fields of freedom in the old world, as long as the new world is the battle-field of slavery.  Should the Kossuths and the Wimmers visit America, they would be reminded of their friends they left in chains in Austria, by the clanking chains of the American slave.
     I was asked a few days since, at a meeting, if I was not afraid that the abolitionists would become tired, and give up the cause as hopeless.  My answer was, that the slave's cause was in the hands of men and women who intended to agitate and agitate, until the iron hand of slavery should melt away, drop by drop, before a fiery public sentiment.

    WM. M. BROWN

     At a reception meeting tendered Mr. Brown in Boston, October 13th, 1854, WENDELL PHILLIPS, Esq., in the course of an eloquent speech, said: —

     " I still more rejoice that Mr. Brown has returned.  Returned to what ? Not to what he can call his 'country.'  The white man comes ' home.' When Milton heard, in Italy, the sound of arms from England, he hastened back — young, enthusiastic, and bathed in beautiful art as he was in Florence.  'I would not be away,' he said, 'when a blow was struck for liberty.'  He came to a country where his manhood was recognised, to fight on equal footing.  The black man comes home to no liberty but the liberty of suffering — to struggle in fetters for the welfare of his race.  It is a magnanimous sympathy with his blood that brings such a man back.  I honor it.  We meet to. do it honor.  Franklin's motto was, Ubi libertas, ibi patria — Where liberty is, there is my country.  Had our friend adopted that for his rule, he would have stayed in Europe.  Liberty for him is there.  The colored man who returns, like

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our friend, to labor, crushed and despised, for his race, sails under a higher flag : his motto is — ' "WHERE MY COUNTRY IS, THERE WILL I BRING LIBERTY."

     As recently as the first of January, 1854, JOHN REMOND, of Salem, Mass., obtained a passport from the then Secretary of State, William L. Marcy.
     Although, on some occasions, the officials of the United States government have refused to acknowledge colored Americans as citizens,— denying them passports and the like, — yet, with a strange inconsistency, they are sometimes made recipients of honors and emoluments not to be obtained by others than citizens of the United States.
     At a meeting of the Bar of the County of Suffolk, Mass., held at the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of the United States, on Thursday, June 27, 1850, Ellis Gray Loring, Esq., was chosen Chairman, and Charles Theodore Russell, Esq., Secretary.
     On motion of Charles Sumner, Esq., it was

  (Signed,)
          ELLIS GRAY LORING, Chairman.
         
CHAS. THEO. RUSSELL, Sec'y.

     Resolved, That Robert Morris, Esq., be recommended for admittance to practice as a Counsellor and Attorney of the Circuit and District Courts of the United States.

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color, — and was duly admitted to practice in the Courts of the United States.

     MACON B. ALLEN, another colored lawyer, was admitted in Maine, to the Cumberland Bar, on examination, and subsequently in Massachusetts, to the Suffolk Bar, on certificate.  Among those who congratulated him on his appointment were Hon. John G. Palfrey, and Professor Greenleaf, of Harvard University.
     GEORGE B. VASHON was also admitted, on examination, before the New York Bar, in 1848.    A correspondent of the Philadelphia Inquirer alludes to his admission as Attorney, Solicitor and Counsellor of the Supreme Court of the State, and adds, that he evinced a perfect knowledge of the rudiments of law, and a familiar acquaintance with Coke, Littleton, Blackstone, and Kent.
     When it is remembered that most lawyers are admitted by certificate, great credit will be awarded Messrs.  ALLEN and VASHON, who passed the ordeal of open court examination with signal credit.
     Messrs. MORRIS and ALLEN are now Justices of the Peace for Massachusetts.
     The Constitution of the United States declares "that the citizens of each STate shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States."
     The Act of February 21, 1799, granting patents for useful improvements, authorizes the issuing of a patent only to a "citizen."  Cannot a man of color obtain one?  Such has been done, and he would be a bold officer who should  

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refuse one on the ground of color.  The Act of 1831, on the subject of copyright, is one of the same character.
     So the Act of December 31, 1792, concerning the registering and recording of ships or vessels.  It is enacted, that no vessel shall be considered or treated as an American vessel, unless she is owned and commanded by an "American citizen;" — men of color have owned vessels, and they have always been considered American vessels.
     So by the Act of February 18, 1793, for enrolling and licensing vessels for the coasting trade and the fisheries, a like oath must be taken by the owner before she can be permitted to engage in the same — a "citizen" only can do it; but cannot and have not men of color?
     So the militia law uses the words white male citizens; implying that there are other citizens besides white ones; for else the word citizens would not have been used. It is true, colored men are exempt from military duty, but so are all persons under eighteen, or over forty-five, years of age, and all females; but yet, Congress can call all these into the army or navy, or militia; and none will contend that exemption from military service proves political inferiority.
     So the Act of May 15, 1820, makes it criminal for a "citizen" to engage in the slave trade. Can people of color do it? And yet penal laws are construed strictly.
     So the Act of May 28, 1796, for the relief and protection of American seamen, declares that any "citizen" sailor can obtain from the custom-house officer a certificate of his citizenship; men of color have often done this, and can again.

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So the Act of July 20, 1790, for the regulation of seamen in the merchant's service, provides, that every ship or vessel belonging to a "citizen or citizens" of the United States, of a certain burthen, on a foreign voyage, shall, under a severe penalty, be provided with a medicine chest.  Are not men of color bound to comply with this law?
     Impressed colored sailors have been claimed by the National Government as " citizens of the United States."
     If a man of color in New York or Pennsylvania should sue a white citizen of Connecticut in the Federal Court, would it be a good plea in abatement that one of the parties is a man of color?
     The question of colored citizenship came up as a national question, and was settled, during the pendency of the Missouri question, in 1820.
     It will be remembered, that that State presented herself for admission into the Union, with a clause in her Constitution prohibiting the settlement of colored citizens within her borders.  Resistance was made to her admission into the Union upon that very ground; and it was not until that State receded from her unconstitutional position, that President Monroe declared the admission of Missouri into the Union to be complete.
     According to Niles's Register, August 18th, vol. 20, pages 338 and 339, the refusal to admit Missouri into the Union was not withdrawn until the General Assembly of that State, in conformity to a fundamental condition imposed by Congress, had, by an act passed for that purpose, solemnly

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enacted and declared, "That this State (Missouri) has assented, and does assent, that the fourth clause of the twenty-sixth section of the third article of their Constitution should never be construed to authorize the passage of any law, and that no law shall be passed in conformity thereto, by which any citizen of either of the United States shall be excluded from the enjoyment of any of the privileges and immunities to which such citizens are entitled, under the Constitution of the United States."
     A free colored citizen of the county of West Chester, in the State of New York, named Gilbert Horton, was employed as a sailor on board a coasting vessel, which touched at a port in the District of Columbia.  Horton went on shore, and while peaceably walking in one of the streets of the city of Washington, was seized and thrown into jail as a fugitive slave.  After he had been in jail a month, the following notice appeared in the National Intelligencer, August 1st, 1826: —

     "Was committed to the jail of "Washington county, District of Columbia, on the 2d of July last, as a runaway, a negro man by the name of Gilbert Horton.  He is live feet four inches high, stout made, has large full eyes, and a scar on his left arm near the elbow.  Had on, when committed, a tarpaulin hat, linen shirt, blue cloth jacket and trousers.  Says that he was born free in the State of New York, near Peekskill.  The owner or owners of the above described negro, if any, are requested to come and prove him and take him away, or he will be sold for his jail fees and other expenses, as the law directs.

            "RICHARD BURR,
"FOR TENCH RINGOLD, Marshal."

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     This advertisement happened to meet the eye of the Hon. Wm. Jay, a son of the celebrated Governor John Jay, who took immediate measures to procure a meeting of the citizens of West Chester county.  That meeting adopted a series of resolutions, requesting his Excellency De Witt Clinton to demand from the proper authorities the instant liberation of Horton, as a free citizen of the State of New York.  In reply to the Governor's letter, he was informed that the Marshal, having become satisfied that Horton was a free man, had liberated him.  The truth probably was, that the Marshal had notice of the proceedings of the State of New York, and knowing (what was generally well known) that De Witt Clinton was not a man to be trifled with, and that he would, at any hazard, maintain and defend the rights of his own State, and every citizen of it, with a firmness and a perseverance not to be evaded or eluded, preferred the immediate liberation of Horton, by what might seem to be a voluntary act, to a compulsory discharge, in pursuance of a requisition from the Governor of a free State.
     The following is a copy of the letter of De Witt Clinton to John Q. Adams, President of the United States, in the case alluded to: —

  "ALBANY, 4th September 1826.

     "SIR, - I have the honor to inclose copies of the proceedings of a respectable meeting of inhabitants of West Chester county, in this State, and of an affidavit of John Owen by which it appears that one GILBERT HORTON a free man of color, and a CITIZEN of this State, is unlawfully imprisoned in the jail of the city of Washington, and

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From whatever authority a law authorizing such proceedings may have emanated, whether from the municipality of Washington, the Legislature of Maryland, or the Congress of the United States, it is, at least, void and unconstitutional in its application to a CITIZEN, and could never have intended to extend further than to fugitive slaves.  As the District of Columbia is under the exclusive control of the national government, I conceive it my duty to apply to you for the liberation of Gilbert Horton, as a freeman and a citizen, and feel persuaded that this request will be followed by immediate relief.

  I have the honor to be, &.,
          "DE WITT CLINTON."

     SOLOMON NORTHUP, a citizen of Washington county, State of New York, was kidnapped in 1841, and conveyed to Louisiana, and there held as a slave for twelve years; but, through an almost miraculous chain of circumstances, he was enabled to impart the fact to his friends at Saratoga.  His Excellency, Washington Hunt, demanded from the authorities of Louisiana, the safe delivery of Solomon Northup,  a free citizen of the State of New York.  The demand was complied with, and he was restored to his family, and friends.
     HOSEA EASTON thus forcibly alludes to the claims of colored Americans to the rights and privileges of citizenship: -
     "In this country, we behold the remnant of a once noble, but now heathenish people.  I would have my readers lose sight of the African character.  For at this time, circumstances have established as much difference between them and their ancestry, as exists between them and any other

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race or nation.  In the first place, the colored people who are born in this country, are Americans in every sense of the word,—Americans by birth, genius, habits, language, &c.  They are dependent on American climate, American aliment, American government, and American manners, to
sustain their American bodies and minds; a withholding of the enjoyment of any American privilege from an American man, either governmental, ecclesiastical, civil, social or alimental, is in effect taking away his means of subsistence; and consequently, taking away his life.  Every ecclesiastical body which denies an American the privilege of participating in its benefits, becomes his murderer.  Every State which denies an American a citizenship, with all its benefits, denies him his life.  The claims the colored people set up, therefore, are the claims of Americans.  Their claims are founded in an original agreement of the contracting parties, and there is nothing to show that color was a consideration in the agreement.  It is well known, that when the country belonged to Great Britain, the colored people were slaves.  But when America revolted from Britain, they were held no longer by any legal power.  There was no efficient law in the land except martial law, and that regarded no one as a slave.  The inhabitants were governed by no other law, except by resolutions adopted from time to time by meetings convoked in the different colonies.  Upon the face of the warrants by which these district and town meetings were called, there is not a word said about the color of the attendants.  In convoking the Continental Congress of the 4th of

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September, 1774, there was not a word said about color.  At a subsequent period, Congress met again, to get in readiness twelve thousand men to act in any emergency; at the same time, a request was forwarded to Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, to increase this army to twenty thousand men.  Now, it is well known that hundreds of the men of which this army was composed were colored men, and recognised by Congress as Americans. * * *
     "Excuses have been made in vain to cover up the hypocrisy of this nation.  The most corrupt policy which ever disgraced its barbarous ancestry has been adopted by both Church and State, for the avowed purpose of withholding the inalienable rights of one part of the subjects of the government.  Pretexts of the lowest order, which are neither witty nor decent, and which rank among that order of subterfuges under which the lowest of ruffians attempt to hide when exposed to detection, are made available. * * *  I have no language to express what I see, and hear, and feel, on this subject.  Were I capable of dipping my pen in the deepest dye of crime, and of understanding the science of the bottomless pit, I should then fail in presenting to the intelligence of mortals on earth, the true nature of American deception.  There can be no appeals made in the name of the laws of the country, or philanthropy, or humanity, or religion, that are capable of drawing forth any thing but the retort,—you are a negro!  If we call to our aid the thunder tones of the cannon and the arguments of fire-arms, (vigorously managed by black and white men, side by side,)

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as displayed upon Dorchester Heights, and at Lexington, and at White Plains, and at Kingston, and at Long Island, and elsewhere, the retort is, you are a negro!  If we present to the nation a Bunker's Hill, our nation's altar, (upon which she offered her choicest sacrifice,) with our fathers, and brothers, and sons, prostrate thereon, wrapped in fire and smoke—the incense of blood borne upward upon the wings of sulphurous vapor, to the throne of national honor, with a halo of national glory echoing back, and spreading over and astonishing the civilized world;— and if we present the thousands of widows and orphans, whose only earthly protectors were thus sacrificed, weeping over the fate of the departed; and anon, tears of blood are extorted, on learning that the government for which their lovers and sires had died refuses to be their protector;— if we tell that angels weep in pity, and that God, the eternal Judge, 'will hear the desire of the humble, judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress,' the retort is, YOU ARE A NEGRO!  If there is a spark of honesty, patriotism, or religion, in the heart or the source from whence such refuting arguments emanate, the devil incarnate is the brightest seraph in paradise.
     Hon. Norton S. Townshend, in submitting to the Senate a bill in accordance with the wish of petitioners for equal suffrage, remarked, "That the reasons were so ably set forth in the following memorial of J. Mercer Langston, that nothing further seemed to be required; and as Mr. Langston had been appointed by a State Convention of colored peo-

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pie, and therefore spoke by authority, the committee adopt the language of the memorial, making it a part of their report."
     From the memorial thus highly complimented, I make the following extracts.  It was presented to the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, April 19, 1854: —
     "What, then, are the grounds upon which we claim the elective franchise?
     "In answering this question, we have to say, in the first place, that we are men.  Nor is it necessary to enter upon an argument in support of so self-evident a proposition.  We possess the physical, the intellectual and the moral attributes common to humanity.  We have the same feelings, desires and aspirations that other men have; and we are capable of the same high intellectual and moral culture.  As men, then, we have rights, inherent rights, which civil society is bound to respect, nay, more, which civil society is bound to. protect and defend. Prominent among those rights, and one which we deeply love and cherish, is the elective franchise, is the privilege of saying who shall be our rulers, and what shall be the character of the laws under which we live.  By none is this right held in higher estimation than by the colored men.  And those greatly mistake who think that we are contented without it.  We are not.  We know that it is one of our dearest rights.  We feel that we ought to have it.  We feel that civil society is under obligation to secure it to us, and protect us in its enjoyment.  The first consideration that we offer, therefore, in favor of granting our claim, is

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the fact that it is a dictate of justice and fair dealing, between civil society and men living within its jurisdiction.

*          *          *          *          *          *

     "We could, with propriety, however, claim so much at your hands, if we were foreigners.  But when it is remembered that we are native-born inhabitants, and by our birth citizens, the consideration which has just been offered appears doubly significant, and therefore doubly forcible.  It is needless for us, in grounding our claim to the elective franchise upon our nativity, to remind you, that it is a principle fully recognised by the Constitution of the country, that natural birth gives citizenship, otherwise, our naturalization laws are absurd and nonsensical.  Says Chancellor Kent, in confirmation of our view, 'Citizens, under our Constitution and laws, mean free inhabitants born within the United States, or naturalized under the laws of Congress.  If a slave, born in the United States, be manumitted, or otherwise lawfully discharged from bondage, or if a black man be born within the United States, and born free, he becomes thenceforward a citizen.'  If Chancellor Kent's principle be correct, we may ask, with some degree of force, where is the right to dis-franchise us — where is the right to strip us of our citizenship? Said the Hon. Mr. Baldwin, in the United States Senate, 'When the Constitution of the United States was framed, colored men voted in a majority of these States; they voted in the State of New York, in Pennsylvania, in Massachusetts, in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware and North Carolina; and long after the adoption

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of the Constitution, they continued to vote in North Carolina and Tennessee also.  The Constitution of the United States makes no distinction of color.  There is no word 'white' to be found in that instrument.  All free people then stood upon the same platform in regard to their political rights, and were so recognised in most of the States of the Union.  *          *          *
     "We claim our enfranchisement also upon the ground that tee are patriotic. It is a fact that we love this country.  We love her Constitution, and we love those free institutions that might and ought to be built up all over this land under its benign influence.  Indeed, at no time have we manifested for this country any other spirit than that of deep, abiding affection.  And that, too, when we have been outraged and abused most barbarously. *          *          *          *          *          *
     " 'Their right,' (colored Americans) in the truthful language of John G. Whittier, 'like that of their white fellow citizens, dates back to the dread arbitrament of war.  Their bones whiten every stricken field of the Revolution; their feet tracked with blood the 6nows of Jersey; their toil built up every fortification south of the Potomac; they shared the famine and nakedness of Valley Forge, and the pestilential horrors of the old Jersey prison ship.'  Have we, then, no claim to an equal participation in the blessings which

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have 'grown out of the national independence,' which we fought to establish?  Is it right, is it just, is it generous, is it magnanimous, to withhold from us these blessings and 'starve our patriotism'?  What foreigner, what Irish or German emigrant, has ever given such evidences of deep devotion to your government  And yet, you have taken pains to make a special arrangement by which, in due time, they are to enter upon the full enjoyment of citizenship.  To this arrangement we would not object. We simply ask that we, who have given such strong and significant proofs of our love of this country and its laws, be clothed in the livery of free and independent citizenship.
     "As touching this point, we would also submit the views of Hon. William H. Seward, as presented in the following letter: —

                                                              " 'Washington, May 16, 1850.
     " 'Dear Sir : — Your letter of the 6th inst. has been received.  I reply to it cheerfully and with pleasure.
     'It is my deliberate opinion, founded upon careful observation, that the right of suffrage is exercised by no citizen of New York more conscientiously, or more sincerely, or with more beneficial results to society, than it is by the electors of African descent.  I sincerely hope that the franchise will before long be extended, as it justly ought, to this race, who of all others need it most.
              'I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
                                                                                                WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

     "Thus it will be seen that, in the estimation of such men — men who have bestowed some thought upon our condition and our conduct — that we are not all so ignorant

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and degraded that we are incapable of exercising the elective franchise in an intelligent and manly manner.
     "Permit us to say, in conclusion, then, in view of these considerations, we hold that it is unjust, anti-democratic, impolitic, and ungenerous, to withhold from us the right of suffrage."
     Mr. Langston has since had satisfactory proof that colored men are regarded as citizens by a good portion of the Buckeyes.  Here is his announcement: —

     "They put upon their ticket the name of a colored man, who was elected clerk of Brownhelm township, by a very handsome majority, indeed.  Since I am the only colored man who lives in this township, you can easily guess the name of the man who was so fortunate as to secure this election.  To my knowledge, the like has not been known in Ohio before.  It proves the steady march of the anti-slavery sentiment, and augurs the inevitable destruction and annihilation of American prejudice against colored men.  What we so much need, just at this juncture and all along the future, is political influence; the bridle by which we can check and guide to our advantage the selfishness of American demagogues.  How important, then, it is, that we labor night and day to enfranchise our selves."

     WILLIAM J. WATKINS sums up the argument in behalf of the citizenship of colored men as follows : —
     "It is said that the minister refused the negro a passport, on the ground that a black man was not considered a citizen of the United States.  We gravely ask the question, If we are not citizens, then what are we? What constitutes citi-

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zenship in this country? Is color a constitutional disqualification?  If so, there are a great many so-called white men who are not citizens, for we know not a few who would be taken for colored men, if the complexion were the standard.  Neither does the texture of the hair exclude any one from the privileges of American citizens, that is, in compliance with the edict of the Constitution. It is just as constitutional to ostracise all the bald heads, or 'heads with sandy hair,' as to thrust a man, in the country, with woolly hair, outside the pale of Arnerican citizenship.
     "We believe the Government recognizes the existence of but two classes of population, natives, or citizens, and aliens.
     "Colored men, born on the soil, cannot be aliens; of course not. They cannot, therefore, be naturalized.  Who ever heard of a colored American being naturalized in the United States? This government naturalizes foreigners only. We must, then, be CITIZENS. Our white fellow-citizens may withhold our right, but they cannot annihilate it.
     "And now, with the broad, blazing sunlight of the Revolution flashing across our path, and revealing to the gaze of all men the prowess and patriotism of colored Americans, in the hour that tried men's souls, we are told we are not citizens.  Shame upon this ingrate Government!  But we will continue to regard ourselves as citizens, and as such demand our rights.  We ask no favors at the hands of the United States."

 

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