USA > Florida > Nassau County > Kings Ferry > Re-organization of Florida. An address delivered before a meeting of the citizens of Nassau county, Florida, at King's Ferry, on St. Mary's river, on Saturday, July 22, 1865 > Part 2
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Now this was a condition of things in antagonism to free- dom; was it not, my friends? If, then, we can ascertain whether there existed a peculiarity in those States, - a pecu- liarity common to all of them, and that existed nowhere else, only in those States, - we shall say that such peculiarity was the singular and especial antagonism of freedom.
It so happens that we do discover a political feature in those very States where free discussion was not allowed ; and
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this political feature existed only in those States, and was the same in all.
What was that dangerous antagonism to freedom ?
I thank God, who governs the world in his own way, that to-day no language applicable to the American system con- tains the word, - the name of that thing: it is passed away ; we know it only as of a time gone by. When it existed among us we called it, -let me say it in a whisper, lest the angels of light hear it and shudder, - we called it slavery.
Here is the whole problem worked out. Slavery was the firebrand that, almost coming in contact with national freedom, brought Uncle Sam to his feet. Do you blame him for throw- ing that firebrand out of the window, and kicking the incen- diaries out of his house ?
We understand, then, without further discussion, that certain things are inevitable.
One is, that as these naughty fellows are members of Uncle Sam's family, and he can't be happy without them, he will bring them back into the house.
Another is, that the firebrand will not be brought back: it will not re-enter in any shape. These incendiaries will be searched : if they have even flint and steel, or matches, in their pockets, they cannot come in.
They will not be re-admitted until they come divested of every article inimical to that grand explosive mixture of free thought, free speech, and free men.
It is to this point, my fellow-citizens, that I have desired to lead you.
I had a double duty to perform; my duty before you, the Republic, and my God, to speak the truth; my duty to you and our suffering country, to so speak the truth, that I should not needlessly re-open any wound.
My heart tells me that I have tried to be as gentle as I could, and be truthful.
And now I proceed to develop the proposition I have laid down, by going a little more into particulars.
I need not make any attempt to persuade you that our re- organization is a matter of great importance to our material prosperity. Every man of us feels that without a State gov-
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ernment we are in a bad way. We see that enterprises of all sorts, public and private, are paralyzed: there is no protection to the orderly citizen against the crimes of vagabond offend- ers ; there is no police-system ; we cannot buy and sell a piece of property, and be assured that we are conveying or receiv- ing a good title.
We all agree upon one thing, which is, that we want to re- establish a State government as soon as possible.
How is it to be done ?
I answer generally, as before, by the adoption of a constitu- tion homogeneous with those of the States now in the Union.
I am not giving you my opinions: I am giving you truth as exhibited by the proclamations of the President.
Now, a constitution illustrates the principles of the elected, for which the electors are responsible. I take care to separate these two classes because we find out, occasionally, that their principles are not alike. I say, then, the constitution illustrates the principles of the elected, but the electors endure the re- sults, and are responsible for them to the world.
' Now, the people of the United States intend to give us an opportunity to make a new constitution ; and knowing as they do, that in these States there are some men whose hearts are not in love with the Union, but rankle in bitterness, - men who, if they dared, would introduce into the new constitution principles that would leave old issues open, and reflecting as they do on all the money that has been spent, as well as the terrible ocean of blood that has covered the land because of these old issues, - I say, the people of the United States, know- ing these things, having these and much else to the same pur- pose in view, are determined to so regulate the settlement of matters that, while citizens of the State shall be left to make their own constitution, it shall be done by citizens who are of undoubted loyalty to the Union ; men who are willing that every thing else in politics shall be second to this grand idea, - a perfect union of all these States.
To accomplish this object, the President has issued several proclamations ; one pronouncing amnesty, and others where he has appointed provisional governors of various States, which, like us, await re-organization.
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By consulting those proclamations, you will learn, that, in granting amnesty to the mass of those who have been in arms against the Government, the President makes fourteen ex- ceptions, - there are fourteen classes of persons in the State, who are not forgiven in the general pardon : all citizens who are not named in one of those fourteen classes will constitute the body politic of the State, in good favor with the United- States Government, and may proceed, when a provisional governor comes among us, to re-organize the State. I briefly name those fourteen classes.
I. Civil officers and agents of the Richmond Government, whether domestic or foreign.
II. United-States judges, who resigned in favor of treason.
III. Military officers of the Rebellion above the rank of colonel in the army, or lieutenant in the navy.
IV. Members of the United-States Congress who resigned in favor of treason.
V. Officers of the United-States army who resigned in favor of treason.
VI. Those miscreants who have unlawfuly abused Union prisoners of war.
And here I wish to pause a moment to say, that, if any one circumstance raises the State of Florida above the position of some of her neighbors before the world, it is this fact, that your military authorities never inflicted cruelties upon de- fenceless prisoners in their hands ; on the contrary, their treat- ment was humane and kind Christian treatment. And I ought to add, in justice to our neighbors of Georgia, that I know of large contributions of fresh beef and mutton being taken to Andersonville by the farmers of the State for distribution among those suffering men ; contributions that were seized by officers having them in charge, to the disappointment of kind- hearted Georgians, who had hoped to relieve suffering.
Let them be assured that in the North, when Georgia is remembered, this Christian benevolence will be put to her credit.
Let all men know that we prefer remembering the kind acts, to laying up in our hearts the bitterness, of the past.
To resume : -
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VII. Men who left the country to avoid opposing the Re- bellion.
VIII. Graduates of West Point who served in the armies of treason.
IX. Rebel governors of States.
X. Citizens who left the United-States lines, and went into the Rebel lines to aid treason.
XI. Privateers and the Canada raiders.
XII. Prisoners of war and of State on parole or in confine- ment.
XIII. Persons who have voluntarily given aid to the Re- bellion in any way, and whose taxable property is over $20,000.
XIV. Persons who have violated an oath of allegiance to the United-States Government.
Now any man who does not come under one of these excep- tions will be entitled to vote, unless it appear that he has in some other way been a disloyal man whom it would be unsafe to trust.
And the President assures us that he will consider as liberally as possible the applications for pardon that may be made by those men who are accounted unfit to be forgiven in the terms of a general amnesty.
But, before a citizen is permitted to vote, he is called to sub- scribe to a certain oath, which, among other obligations, binds him to " support all the laws and proclamations that have been made during the war with reference to the emancipation of slaves."
This, then, is inevitable, that we must organize under a free State constitution : we accept it, if for no other reason, because it is inevitable.
Let us, my friends, address ourselves to the fact, and deter- mine that we will not be broken down by it: let us not spend time in grumbling over what cannot be helped, but go to work, encourage the emigration of laborers to our beautiful State, and hire men to raise crops, to carry on arts and manu- factures.
We have the land, we have the materials.
Shall we complain, that negroes, being free, put on the airs of free men ? Is it worth while to spend much time in vexa-
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tion because negroes act just as you and I would act if we were in their situation ? You have only to establish one fact among them just as it exists among yourselves, which is, that a man who would live must pay the world for his living.
It will require time to do this ; but I am satisfied that you will accomplish it.
From my experience with that class of people during the last three years, I am free to say, that, when they once learn that work is necessary if they wish to live, they become in- dustrious and excellent laborers. It required some time to teach this ; but I have finally succeeded, so far as the work I have in charge is concerned.
If my negro men absented themselves from the work a day, for which a ration had been issued from my commissariat, I charged them with the price of that ration when I settled with them at the end of the month. They soon learned that the ration was not a gratuity, but a part of their wages to be paid for work.
The result was, that, after this lesson was learned, they be- came more constant in duty : if they had previously worked eight or ten days in a month, they now made the full twenty- six.
Punctuality was another lesson to be taught. If a man failed to make his appearance while the roll was being called, he was docked for a quarter of a day. It was necessary to be absolute in this thing : they thought it a great hardship that when they were only five minutes late they could not go to work immediately, but must wait till the end of the first quarter. However, they learned finally to be punctual.
In the same way certain old notions about Saturday after- noon had to be met : the negroes found, at last, that it paid to work all the time ..
Now I want to name one other fact that has done much towards producing this condition of things on my work, and bringing the freedmen into industrious habits, and making them profitable to me as well as to themselves. It is this : Those people learned, after a time, that, if I did certain things to the negroes that forced them to work more steadily than had been their custom, I did the very same things by the
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white laborers. They observed what was going on: they said, " It's mighty hard on us ; but he serves all alike."
The result is, that, if you consult one of my overseers or foremen, he will tell you that a force of negroes at Fort Clinch is worth more than any body of white laborers that I have ever had on the work.
And I will say for the negroes on this coast that, although I have been so constantly associated with them for the last four years, I have in all that time seen only four of them in a state of drunkenness ; just one a year. I can't say as much for any class of white people I have ever known in any part of the country or in any walk of life.
Now, my friends, my object in saying what I do on this sub- ject is to induce you to lay aside some of your prejudices in relation to this matter, and devote yourselves to procuring the best results out of your laborers, instead of fretting be- cause " niggers put on airs."
You may depend that if you simply study the problem to see how you shall make labor pay you the best results, you will soon find yourselves forgetting about color : you will be no more jealous of these poor creatures than of any other laborer.
One of my white laborers, a native of this county, wanting higher wages, complained that he didn't receive as much as a “ nigger."
" That's very true," I said; "but you are not worth as much."
" Well," he replied, " I think a white man ought to be worth as much as a nigger any time."
I was forced to say that I reckon a man's value to me as a laborer by the amount of work he is able to accomplish; that I do not pay a premium on color : I pay for work.
Now, won't you agree with me in this proposition ? Am I not correct ? And do you not feel that much of the trouble occurring among the blacks proceeds in no small degree from our own impatience under the changes that have occurred in their relations to us ?
Let us be honest with ourselves and with them. They are among us : they make the labor of the country ; it so happens
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that, in the providence of God, we have to accept their pres- ence as one of the inevitables.
Will it not be somewhat unreasonable in us - say even a little cowardly - if we permit ourselves to be vexed with them because they have been freed ? I have no doubt you will agree with me on this subject; that you will approach the whole matter with the dignity becoming your manhood.
I acknowledge that some mistakes have been made by Northern men, who have come among us utterly ignorant of our institutions, and of the characteristics peculiar to the race in question. I know that, in their zeal to fill the black with a' proper sense of his new condition, they have seemed to forget that he is a responsible being like all other men; that he re- quires the same discipline of law and manners. They appear only to remember that he has been a slave, and is now free, and ought to be doing something to spite his old owner; they. give him false impressions of life ; they fill him with a self- appreciation before they have taught him to avoid absurd- ities. The result is to the prejudice of good order, and the negro suffers because his zealous friend is a fool.
It was no fault of the negro: he has been misled by med- dlesome men ; be patient with him. If you are, you will find him much more likely to trust you, whom he has known favor- ably all his life, than to give his friendship to Northern men, who preach a good deal in his favor, but have no work to put money in his pocket.
There is one subject before the country at this time on which I want to say a single word.
This subject is called by several fine-sounding names. Some designate it "universal suffrage ; " others, again, have styled it, even more unfairly, " manhood suffrage." These words mean just one thing, and there is only one proper way of putting it; any attempt to varnish it over with this poetry appears to me frivolous and dishonest.
When men talk of " universal suffrage " and " manhood suf- frage," they mean negro suffrage, but haven't the manliness to say so.
It is not worth our while to discuss the matter because, although some over-zealous and impracticable men are agi-
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tating the subject in various parts of the land, the President does not countenance the attempt to force it upon us. He is determined to let the loyal citizens of this State settle the matter for themselves.
The only reply to be made to these men is, If you like negro suffrage so well, why don't you try it at home ? If negro suffrage is a good thing in Florida, it must be good in Maine. Try it first yourselves, then advise us of the result.
Some of the newspapers of New-York city talk of univer- sal suffrage as if it existed in that State. From their tone one might infer that negro suffrage has received a fair trial, and they are giving us the benefit of their experience.
Such, however, is not the fact.
When the question was submitted to the people of New York, they refused to allow negroes to vote ; and so it remains to this day, except that a few very specially favored individu- als, who among other qualifications possess a certain amount of real estate, are permitted this right.
The qualifications I refer to are demanded only of negroes. This is the " manhood suffrage " of New York.
Even if the discriminations against that class were less than they are, there yet would exist the fact that the people on whom is inflicted the mass of emigration from Europe, - to de- scribe whom it would require the dialect of Blackwell's Island, - make it more difficult for free negroes to vote than for that imported offal of the monarchies. Every intelligent citizen knows, that, even when the laws permit negro suffrage, the popular prejudice against these people is so strong that they have rarely availed themselves of the privilege.
I think it likely that in these days, in Massachusetts, the negro may walk fearlessly to the polls in certain precincts, and cast his ballot. If he can do so, it is a new thing ; but opinions travel rapidly in New England, and I have been four years in the army without absence : I have therefore had no opportunity to observe the case.
I do not propose to make any argument on this subject. I take it, all are agreed on certain points ; one of which is, that the black laborer must be protected in all his proper rights ;
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but none have yet regarded the elective franchise to be one of those rights : what it may become, we will not now say.
While I am on this subject of citizenship, I wish to make a suggestion that I hope may be of use to us.
It is very evident that in the fortunes of war the political control of the State passes out of the hands of those who have heretofore managed our affairs, into the hands of the people : will the people retain that power which is now to be given them by the United-States Government, and wield it for their own good ? or will it shortly revert to the same men who have been our masters in times past ?
I call them " our masters," for when I reflect that such a respectable, worthy, and thoroughly upright man as Colonel Tracy was defeated in this county by a drunken lawyer who had whiskey to dispense, and who, to my personal knowledge, bought votes by the gift of a twenty-five-cent chip hat, or a pair of stogy shoes, I have no other name to apply to their relation to the people.
Will they recover their old places ?
That depends very much on ourselves ; and I know of but one protection against their management, - it is to enlighten and educate the people.
You will soon have it in your power to provide for this.
You distribute lands without stint to speculators : the credit of your State is this day pledged to millions of dollars' worth of bonds, which have made the capital of private companies ; all this, to be sure, for the good of the State, and for your benefit as well as theirs.
But what have we done towards the education of the people ? Can we not see that these old politicians find it to their in- terest to keep the people in ignorance ? Suppose every man in this county could have been a general reader! do you believe the unprincipled men of the State could have bam- boozled the people so successfully as they have in times past?
Why, my friends, let us dwell upon one single fact : the rolls of Lee and Johnson's armies, at the time of their surrender, show that only one man in five was able to write his name ! This is an unpleasant truth, I know; but, when a man is
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wounded, you have got to look right straight at the unsightly sore in order to dress it and cure the sufferer.
Shall this condition of things last ? Shall we not, by a con- stitutional provision, make some arrangement for the enlight- enment of the people, the education of the children? I tell you it will be disgraceful to us if we allow the chance to go by, that now offers for doing something for ourselves and our children.
Shall we not, then, proceed to inaugurate as efficient a school system as our scattered population will permit, and so draft our new constitution as to include arrangements necessary for educating our own teachers as well ?
Fellow-citizens, I have said enough to convey to your minds all that you require to know, at this juncture, of the intentions of the Government. As to what they will do, of course I cannot predict, and I have no authority to declare any thing officially.
But I may properly say that, in my judgment, the course pursued with Florida will be precisely the same as with all the rest ..
This State alone remains without a provisional governor. I know that influences are at work to prevent such appoint- ment,- that a military governor has been suggested ; but you need have no apprehension upon that point. A military governor will not be appointed : the very same efforts have been made elswhere, and have failed. A provisional governor will be appointed by the President : he will be a good man ; you may rely on that : he will be a citizen of the State, and a man de- voted to the cause of the people, having an eye single to the well-being of Florida as a member of the Union.
After he is appointed, he will make himself acquainted with the people, their character for loyalty, their requirements.
He will shortly appoint justices of the peace, and he will call on you to select members for a convention that is to make for us a new constitution.
Under that constitution we shall elect a State Legislature, and we shall send our members to Congress, and then Florida, thank God, will be returned again to the arms of our dear old mother, - the Union !
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Were I to advise, I should say that it is not necessary to hold large meetings until such a governor is appointed ; but I think it desirable that you canvass your neighborhoods, and know how men stand, if you wish to be safe under the re- organization ; moreover, every thing done now towards repro- ducing proper feeling will be just so much work saved when a governor takes control.
I hope you are not tired out, and that I have been able to say some words that will be of benefit to you. I thank you for your patient listening, and I pray God to hasten the time when we shall be once more living in brotherhood : be assured, my fellow-citizens, that from me you will never receive other than the most fraternal attention, as I have towards you all the kindest regard.
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
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Chat W. Stack
8 Branquela
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