But the fallacy of
these promises and the folly of our hopes have been too clearly proven
in the late election. The platform of the political party on which you
have swept every Northern State and elected a sectional President is a
foul libel upon our character and a declaration of open war on the lives
and property of the Southern people.
"In defiance of the Constitution which protects our rights your mob has
decreed the confiscation of three thousand million dollars' worth of our
property. If we claim the protection of our common law, your mob
solemnly burns the Constitution in your public squares and denounces it
as 'an agreement with Death and covenant with Hell.' We appeal to the
Supreme Court of the Republic and when its Judges unanimously sustain
our position on every point, your mob cries:
"'Down with the Supreme Court of the United States!'
"You have not only insulted us as unchristian and heathen, you have
proclaimed that four million ignorant negroes but yesterday taken from
the savagery of cannibal Africa are our equals and entitled to share in
the solemn rights of American citizenship. Your declaration is an open
summons that they rise in insurrection with the knife in one hand and
the torch in the other.
Pages:
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110