16 



ALABAMA. 



out distinction of race or color, and we point with 

 pride and confidence to every; line of our political 

 record in proof of this declaration ? and we denounce 

 the assertions that have made it necessary for a 

 whole people to unite and act together in self-de- 

 fense and for the preservation of white civilization 

 as untrue, and an emanation of that selfish spirit 

 which in the past demanded every thing for one 

 race and was unwilling to concede any thing to the 

 other ; that the race-issue tendered by the Democ- 

 racy of Alabama is but the outcropping and is the 

 natural sequence of the ambitious spirit which led a 

 peaceful people into a war with their Government in 

 1861 ; which during that war rode rough-shod over 

 the people of the South, and after the war perpetu- 

 ated its carnival of blood by a career of crime in the 

 Ku-klux Klan, which in the extent of its organi- 

 zations, the numbers involved in it, the multiplicity 

 and hcinousness of its crimes, and the manner of 

 their commission, finds no parallel on the rolls of 

 human history. It is now, as it was then, each in 

 its different mode, for resistance to the Constitution 

 and law of the land. Again they will commit the 

 same acts, with vengeance sharpened and enven- 

 omed by continued and repeated persistence in 

 wrong. 



5. That we neither desire nor seek the invasion 

 of the rights of the white people by the colored ; we 

 only ask equal advantages in matters of public and 

 common rights. This we consider to be all that is 

 embraced in what is known as the civil-rights bill, 

 and in order that we may be understood, and no 

 false charges made against us, wo hereby declare 

 that the Republican party does not desire or seek 

 mixed schools or mixed accommodations for the 

 colored people, but they ask that in all these advan- 

 tages they shall be equal. We want no special 

 equality enforced by law. "We recognize the fact 

 that every home is sacred from intrusions, and that 

 in a free country every one can dictate for himself 

 the line of social exclusion that society gave us by 

 laws more inexorable than statute or common law, 

 and opens or closes its door to whomsoever it will, 

 and that no civil law can or should invade it. 



6. We hold that governments are instituted among 

 men for the protection of life, and liberty, and 

 property, and we demand a rigorous execution of 

 the laws of this State and of the United States for 

 that purpose, and we call on the Governor of this 

 State to take all legal means at his command for. 

 the purpose of discovering and bringing to trial all 

 persons offending against the laws. Murder by ly- 

 ing in ambush, whether by one or many, must be 

 put an end to, and the peace and security of the 

 humblest home must be respected and protected. 



7. The good faith and the credit of the State were 

 well sustained, and the price of its bonds, when 

 the government passed from the hands of Govern- 

 or Smith to his Democratic successor in Novem- 

 ber, 1870, is unmistakable evidence of the fact ; and 

 we pledge ourselves to use- the means of the State 

 for the payment of all its just debts, and to pro- 

 vide for the proper adjustment of what is called the 

 railroad indebtedness of the State, and to put an 

 end to the further indorsement of the bonds of all 

 private corporations. These results can be achieved 

 by an economical use of our resources without op- 

 pressing the -people. Good faith, economy, and re- 

 trenchment of. all unnecessary expenses in the use 

 of our resources, will secure the result. 



8. That the seizure of the Alabama & Chattanooga 

 Railroad by the Democratic administration has re- 

 sulted in greatly impairing the value of the allotted 

 security held by the State to provide for the pay- 

 ment of _the State_ liability thereon, and we are of 

 the opinion that, instead of seizing the road and 

 thereby destroying the security it furnished to pro- 

 tect the State fromloss on the bonds it has indorsed, 

 the plainest principles dictate that the road should 

 be managed by those most interested in it. 



A convention of the colored voters of the 

 State was held in Montgomery on the 25th, 

 26th, and 27th of June. An address to the 

 people of the State was published, in which, 

 after reciting the constitutional provisions that 

 had been framed to secure the rights of col- 

 ored citizens, they say : 



We are denied the facilities of traveling upon the 

 public highways of the country, unless we submit, 

 as we are compelled to do, to the most inconvenient 

 and sometimes filthy accommodations which the 

 public carriers may think proper to furnish, while 

 others are accommodated with comfortable and 

 cleanly quarters, and fully protected from intrusion 

 and insult, to which we are often subjected, not- 

 withstanding the same fare is exacted of us that is 

 paid by those who are more favored. 



We are denied accommodation in the public inns 

 and eating-houses in the country while traveling 

 from plaoe to place, and are therefore placed at 

 great trouble and inconvenience without any fault on 

 our part. 



Notwithstanding the constitutional guarantees 

 hereinbefore referred to, there is a political party 

 in this State, known as the Democratic and Con- 

 servative party, which, regardless of the constitution- 

 al oath to which its members have subscribed, is en- 

 gaged in a ruthless crusade against us as a race, with 

 the avowed purpose of not only preventing us from 

 exercising the constitutional rights which have been 

 secured to us, but of abridging these rights to the 

 fullest extent of its ability, should it obtain power 

 in this State. To this end it is engaged in exciting 

 the baser prejudices and passions of the white men 

 against us as a race, and is openly threatening us 

 with a civil and relentless war of extermination, 

 falsely charging us with being enemies of the white 

 man because we have heretofore refused to support 

 and sustain that party. 



The position of this class of voters in the 

 politics of Alabama is indicated by the follow- 

 ing resolutions adopted by this convention : 



Whereas, It is charged by the organ of the Demo- 

 cratic white man's party in Alabama that the colored 

 people of Alabama are trying to force an issue of 

 race in said State, for the purpose of creating dissen- 

 sion and strife among the people ; and 



Whereas, It is evident that the white man's party 

 means the alignment of all the white people of the 

 State against the colored people : 



Resolved, That the colored people of Alabama are 

 in favor of free schools, free churches, freedom of 

 speech and thought ana action by all men ; that we 

 are in favor of the civil and political rights of all 

 men as embodied in our constitution and our free in- 

 stitutions. 



Resolved, That the, colored people of Alabama, 

 while according to all men those inalienable rights 

 born of American citizenship, demand that the same 

 shall be guaranteed to them, and that they favor such 

 legislation as will secure them fully in these rights, 

 and place them beyond the control of the " white 

 man's party.'' or any other party. 



Resolved, That we are opposed to bringing strife 

 and discord in this State between the people ; that 

 we are in favor of every measure of legislation which 

 tends to protect our people from the enmity and 

 hatred of the so-called white man's party ; and we 

 will use all honorable means to secure by legislation 

 every right due us as a people which comes within 

 the province of legislation and which can be enforced 

 in the courts. 



Resolved, That the Eepublican party having ex- 

 hibited its fidelity to the cause of human rights and . 

 to the best interests of the colored people, we hereby 

 pledge that party our continued support and adher- 



