FootNote
The new kid on the block, FootNote is known for digitizing historical
documents... many of which are genealogical gems. With naturalizations,
city directories, war records, newspapers, town records, etc... this new
kid is quickly being recognized as an alternative to Ancestry.
While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
The first century of the
American Constitution has passed, and has
been grandly celebrated. We now stand on the
dividing line, and enter upon the Second
Century with its unknown trials and
triumphs. What these may be, we may judge,
perhaps, in part, if we turn to those of the
past. Among the many and serious objections
made against the Constitution at the outset,
demanding protracted discussions,
Compromises and Amendments, none were graver
or more far-reaching in their consequences
than those respecting State Rights and the
recognition of Negro slavery. The bottom
difficulty in these was probably that of
slavery, for, if it had not introduced such
radically different industries in the two
sections of the country, with their
different interests, and habits of thought
and life, the question of State Rights might
have slumbered in quietude. But when slavery
had to be defended, State Rights was the
bastion behind which the defense sheltered
itself. Whether the Compromise with slavery
at the outset were the wise thing or not, it
is not worth while now to consider. We do
not know what the consequences would have
been if the Compromise had not been made. We
all know now, only too sadly, the dreadful
price that was at last paid for the
Compromise.
But the war killed slavery and buried it
beyond resurrection. Logically, it also
killed the State Rights doctrine. But we
fear it "still lives" in the heart of
Jefferson Davis, and in the hearts of the
many millions who still revere him as the
leader of the "lost cause." Its avowal is
still heard from Southern lips and in the
Southern press. Will there be any occasion
for its revival into active life? We fear
there will be. Slavery has left behind it a
ghost which no more than that of Banquo will
"down." Race prejudice is as unyielding in
the Southern heart to-day as was the purpose
once to maintain slavery. Should that
prejudice persist in its inexorable demands,
another contest may arise, in which the
enfranchised millions may be goaded to take
part, and the North, as in the case of
slavery, may be involved in the dreadful
struggle. At what time in the coming hundred
years of the Constitution this new struggle
may come, no one can predict. The crisis
will not be averted by merely deprecating
it, and we know of no Compromise that can
reach it. The only possible relief that we
can see is by educating the Negro, till he
shall rise to a position that will challenge
the respect of his fellow-citizens and
secure to him his equal rights under the
glorious Constitution of the United States
of America.
Few colored men in the United States have
occupied a more prominent position than
Frederick Douglass; and there are none whose
opinions are more worthy of respect. His
address delivered at the celebration of the
Twenty-seventh Anniversary of the
Emancipation of the Slaves in the District
of Columbia was thoughtful, well-expressed
and emphatic in its utterances. While we
might not accord with every sentiment, we
wish we could publish the whole. We content
ourselves with a few pointed extracts.
"From every view I have been able to take of
the present situation in relation to the
colored people of the United States, I am
forced to the conclusion that the
irrepressible conflict, of which we heard so
much before the War of the Rebellion and
during the war, is still in progress. It is
still the battle between two opposite
civilizations—the one created and sustained
by slavery, and the other framed and
fashioned in the spirit of liberty and
humanity, and this conflict will not be
ended until one or the other shall be
completely adopted in every section of our
common country."
"From my outlook, I am free to affirm that I
see nothing for the Negro of the South but a
condition of absolute freedom or of absolute
slavery. I see no half-way place for him.
One or the other of these conditions is to
solve the so called Negro-problem. Let it be
remembered that the labor of the Negro is
his only capital. Take this from him and he
dies from starvation. The present mode of
obtaining his labor in the South gives the
old master-class a complete mastery over
him. The payment of the Negro by orders on
stores, where the storekeeper controls
price, quality and quantity, and is subject
to no competition, so that the Negro must
buy there and nowhere else—an arrangement by
which the Negro never has a dollar to lay
by, and can be kept in debt to his employer
year in and year out, puts him completely at
the mercy of the old master-class. He who
could say to the Negro when a slave, you
shall work for me or be whipped to death,
can now say to him with equal emphasis, you
shall work for me or I will starve you to
death. This is the plain, matter-of-fact and
unexaggerated condition of the plantation
Negro in the Southern States to-day."
"I will tell you. He has not a cent of money
to emigrate with, and if he had, and desired
to exercise that right, he would be arrested
for debt, for non-fulfillment of contract,
or be shot down like a dog in his tracks.
When Southern Senators tell you that they
want to be rid of the negroes, and would be
glad to have them all clear out, you know,
and I know, and they know, that they are
speaking falsely, and simply with a view to
mislead the North. Only a few days ago,
armed resistance was made in North Carolina
to colored emigration from that State, and
the first exodus to Kansas was arrested by
the old master-class with shotguns and
Winchester rifles. The desire to get rid of
the negro is a hollow sham. His labor is
wanted to-day in the South just as it was
wanted in the old times when he was hunted
by two-legged and four-legged bloodhounds."
"In conclusion, while I have plainly
portrayed the sources of danger to our
people, I have no fears as to the final
result. The American people are governed,
not only by laws and selfish interests, but
by large ideas of moral and material
civilization. The spirit of justice,
liberty, and fair play is abroad in the
land. It is in the air. It animates men of
all stations, of all professions and
callings, and can neither be silenced nor
extirpated. It has an agent in every bar of
railroad iron, a servant in every electric
wire, a missionary in every traveler. It not
only tunnels the mountains, fills up the
valleys, and sheds upon us the light of
science, but it will ultimately destroy the
unnumbered wrongs inherited by both races
from the system of slavery and barbarism. In
this direction is the trend of the nation.
States may lag, parties may hesitate,
leaders may halt, but to this complexion it
must come at last. States, parties and
leaders must, and will in the end, adjust
themselves to this overwhelming and
irresistible tendency. It will make parties,
and unmake parties, will make rulers, and
unmake rulers, until it shall become the
fixed, universal, and irreversible law of
the land. For fifty years, it has made
progress against all contradictions. It
stemmed the current of opposition in church
and State. It has removed many
proscriptions. It has opened the gates of
knowledge. It has abolished slavery. It has
saved the Union. It has reconstructed the
government upon a basis of justice and
liberty, and it will see to it that the last
vestige of fraud and violence on the ballot
box shall disappear, and there shall be one
country, one law, one liberty, for all the
people of the United States."
Rev. G. S. Rollins
The security of any nation rests largely
upon the patriotism of its people. America
is in danger, not from foes without, but
from within her own borders. How to
Americanize the foreign element, is the
problem which confronts the people of our
great cities; a question which more directly
concerns the Northern portion of our
country.
Here in the South is a different case. We
have eight million negroes— born Americans.
The one all-absorbing question is, how to
fit them for citizenship—how to make
patriotic citizens of them.
Is patriotism in danger among the colored
people? Yes, and mainly for two reasons.
First, because of their ignorance of our
country; its history, constitution and
government. Some will think that this is a
danger which will soon pass away, as the
older and more ignorant ones die. It is true
that the number of those who were advanced
in years at the close of the war is rapidly
decreasing, but there is an astonishingly
large number of those who were young at that
time and are now in the prime of life. They
are ignorant of our National history
previous to the Civil War. What they have
learned since, has been politics rather than
patriotism. They look upon our nation as two
great political parties, each struggling for
the mastery. One they regard as hostile, and
the other friendly, to them. This is the
extent of their knowledge of United States
history. Although they have been told that
we are a great nation under a beneficent
government, such a fact is difficult for
them to comprehend, since all they see is
the by-play of party politicians. They know
they have a right to vote, but how can they
respect a government that does not always
and everywhere protect them in the exercise
of that right?
A second reason why patriotism is in danger
among the colored people: They are not
surrounded by that intensely national spirit
which prevails in other parts of our
country. By this, I would not take one iota
from the loyalty and patriotism of the
Southern people. The fact cannot be denied,
however, that one in the South hears and
reads but little about the United States of
America. Much is written and said about the
State, but little genuine enthusiasm for the
whole country is displayed. A general spirit
of distrust of the Federal Government is
constantly coming to the surface. Newspapers
and men talk as if they were constantly
afraid the government would overstep its
bounds and encroach upon the rights of the
States. The Southern press is ever
complaining of the sectionalism of the
North. And when confronted with the
necessity of teaching United States History
in the public schools, it rejects the
current school histories. It is not the
present object to remark further upon this
than to call attention to the fact that
there is a state of public sentiment which
is not productive of warm patriotism. Two
years ago, the writer, while attending an
anniversary in a Northern city, witnessed a
scene that will not soon be forgotten. Fifty
thousand people were gathered on a public
square, and at a given signal a beautiful
new flag was unfurled, and the band struck
up "America." Fifty thousand voices took up
the tune. Men cheered until they were
hoarse. One gray-haired Irishman with tears
shouted, "Thank God I live under the
American flag." Such scenes develop
patriotism. They are rare in the South.
In the midst of indifference toward the
national government, the colored race is
developing and multiplying, and that so
rapidly that it is a most important factor
in the political affairs of the nation. Like
begets like. Indifference toward the
government on the part of the whites, breeds
the same in the Negroes.
Now, true patriotism is a positive power. A
new generation of colored people is growing
up. Upon these rests the future of the race.
These two defects, lack of education and
unpatriotic surroundings, will best be
remedied by the education of this new
generation.
United States History should be a prominent
study, even in the primary departments of
our schools. The vast majority of the
colored children can remain in school only
long enough to get a knowledge of the
elements, and among these should be American
history. What if children cannot pronounce
the names of all the cities in Siberia?
Teach them to speak intelligently of
Lexington, Bunker Hill and Yorktown. Hang
the walls of the school-room with pictures
of great Americans. Let incidents from their
lives be used as illustrations of moral
lessons. Explain the principles and form of
our government. Dwell upon the extent of its
domain and its vast resources. Define simply
the privileges conferred, and the duties
imposed, upon the citizens of our
government. Four things should be taught
them: the three Rs and American history.
What is needed among all our citizens, is a
great lifting up where a broad view of our
great land can be had. Make the children
feel that they dwell in a great and goodly
land, that they enjoy great privileges under
its government, and they will learn to love
it.
When Independence Day arrives, arrange for
public gatherings of the people, and in
short addresses explain to them the meaning
of the day. Let it be a day of opportunity
for instructing them in the history of our
country and in the duties of citizenship.
These are some of the ways in which the
colored people may be aroused from their
apathy and indifference toward their
country, and inspired with a patriotism, not
blind and spasmodic, but intelligent and
permanent.
In attendance at one of the ward schools of
Indianapolis is a little colored girl nine
years old. She is miserable, indeed, for at
home she is ill treated, and the shoes she
wears, and often the clothes, are supplied
by the teachers or some of her classmates.
There is a tender, poetic vein in her
make-up, and it found vent in a composition.
The teacher took a little pansy plant to
school one day and told the pupils of the
flower. Two days after, she asked them to
write a story of it, and gave them the
privilege of having the pansy talk and tell
the story, and this is what the little
colored girl wrote, the word pansy in the
copy being the only one dignified with a
capital:
"I am only a Pansy, my home is in a little
brown house. I sleep in my little brown
house all winter, and I am now going to open
my eyes and look about. 'give me some rain
sky, I want to look out of my window and see
what is going on,' I asked, so the sky gave
me some water and I began to clime to the
window, at last I got up there and open my
eyes, oh what a wonderful world I seen when
birds sang songs to me, and grasshoppers
kissed me, and dance with me, and creakets
smiled at me, and I had a pretty green
dress. there was trees that grow over me and
the wind faned me. the sun smiled at me, and
little children smelled me. one bright
morning me and the grasshoppers had a party
he wood play with me and a naughty boy pick
me up and tore me up and I died and that was
the last of Pansy."
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