The Legislative Outrage Upon the Freedmen of Georgia
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Title
The Legislative Outrage Upon the Freedmen of Georgia
Source
From Gale. 19th Century U.S. Newspapers. ©2008 Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, Inc. Reproduced by permission. www.cengage.com/permissions
Publisher
Bangor Daily Whig and Courier
Date
1868-09-28
Scripto
Transcription
[PAGE 01]
The Legislative Outrage Upon the Freedmen men of Georgia.
The utterly unjustifiable expulsion [/unclear] of the colored members of the Georgia Legislature, (by the democratic rebel members, aided by a few white renegades who were chosen by the freedmen themselves) constitutes are one of the most outrageous assaults upon the rights of the people, ever perpetrated in this country. And it is a wrong which will not be allowed to go unredressed. It is the deliberate commencement of an attempt to deprive the freedmen of all the Southern States of the rights conferred upon them by the constitutional amendments - and an attempt which will be successfully carried out if Seymour and Blair are elected and the Democratic party come into power. The expelled members are taking the outrage in an admirable spirit, however. They have formed themselves into an association called the "Civil and Political Rights Association," and have issued a call for a State Convention of colored citizens, to be held in Macon on the first Tuesday in October. The document is temperate in its tone. After saying there can be no doubt that their personal liberty is in great danger as well as their civil and political rights, they conclude with these words: "Guard against all disturbances, as this is a moral contest and a bloodless battle. Drunkards and fools fight in person; sober and wise men fight with thoughts and words."
[PAGE 02]
The manliness of this attitude says the Press-the - the noble forbearance which they display in their peculiar and trying position, are beyond all praise. But because they have been moderate and patient, because they have forborne to break the peace or clamor over their wrong, it does not become us to forget how great that wrong has been. The outrage is one of a kind which cannot safely be tolerated in a free country. The expulsion from a legislative body of a whole class of regularly elected members merely on account of their color, is the very stupidity of injustice. It is an act, the consequences of which do not stop with its effect on the colored men themselves. Indeed it is no part of the plan, either of the Southern conspirators or of their equally unprincipled though more cautious allies at the North to pause here. When the despatch announcing the perpetration of the outrage was received at New York, , the World of that city applauded the action of the white members, and added: "Having braved the frowns of Congress and taken this step at a time when Congress is omnipotent, they will readily go further, and complete what they have begun, when they find themselves backed and supported by the public opinion of the whole country." The next step will doubtless be to oust the whites of Northern birth from the Legislature, and some pretext will quickly be formed to deprive the freedmen of the right of suffrage.
[PAGE 03]
The Zion's Advocate says: : "The Southern Secessionists seem to have been given over to judicial madness. It is such action as this that has compelled Congress to assemble; and, warned by this rebellious spirit, the National Legislature will adjourn from month to month, in order to be prepared for the new plots of the rebels. In a letter of a Northern man residing in Georgia to one of our missionary societies, the writer says;
"Political matters are more and more forbidding in this State. The rebels in the Legislature have introduced a resolution, ousting some thirty members from their places in that body because they are "free persons of color." There is no law, nor justice, nor reason in such an act, but law, and justice, and reason in such an act, but law, and justice, and reason have no relationship to the deeds of Georgia rebels. There is no such thing as justice here for a man who is either colored or a Republican; and in the coming contest there will be hundreds and thousands of lives lost. Our Legislature will pass no act which will serve to protect any person in his right to vote, or prevent frauds, and there will either be thousands of black men who will vote the rebel ticket * * * * * or those thousands of black men will be driven with their wives and children into the woods to starve. I think that the Christian Republicans at the North ought to organize in some way so as to protect and feed those faithful men who will vote right here with starvation staring them and their wives and children in the face.
The Legislative Outrage Upon the Freedmen men of Georgia.
The utterly unjustifiable expulsion [/unclear] of the colored members of the Georgia Legislature, (by the democratic rebel members, aided by a few white renegades who were chosen by the freedmen themselves) constitutes are one of the most outrageous assaults upon the rights of the people, ever perpetrated in this country. And it is a wrong which will not be allowed to go unredressed. It is the deliberate commencement of an attempt to deprive the freedmen of all the Southern States of the rights conferred upon them by the constitutional amendments - and an attempt which will be successfully carried out if Seymour and Blair are elected and the Democratic party come into power. The expelled members are taking the outrage in an admirable spirit, however. They have formed themselves into an association called the "Civil and Political Rights Association," and have issued a call for a State Convention of colored citizens, to be held in Macon on the first Tuesday in October. The document is temperate in its tone. After saying there can be no doubt that their personal liberty is in great danger as well as their civil and political rights, they conclude with these words: "Guard against all disturbances, as this is a moral contest and a bloodless battle. Drunkards and fools fight in person; sober and wise men fight with thoughts and words."
[PAGE 02]
The manliness of this attitude says the Press-the - the noble forbearance which they display in their peculiar and trying position, are beyond all praise. But because they have been moderate and patient, because they have forborne to break the peace or clamor over their wrong, it does not become us to forget how great that wrong has been. The outrage is one of a kind which cannot safely be tolerated in a free country. The expulsion from a legislative body of a whole class of regularly elected members merely on account of their color, is the very stupidity of injustice. It is an act, the consequences of which do not stop with its effect on the colored men themselves. Indeed it is no part of the plan, either of the Southern conspirators or of their equally unprincipled though more cautious allies at the North to pause here. When the despatch announcing the perpetration of the outrage was received at New York, , the World of that city applauded the action of the white members, and added: "Having braved the frowns of Congress and taken this step at a time when Congress is omnipotent, they will readily go further, and complete what they have begun, when they find themselves backed and supported by the public opinion of the whole country." The next step will doubtless be to oust the whites of Northern birth from the Legislature, and some pretext will quickly be formed to deprive the freedmen of the right of suffrage.
[PAGE 03]
The Zion's Advocate says: : "The Southern Secessionists seem to have been given over to judicial madness. It is such action as this that has compelled Congress to assemble; and, warned by this rebellious spirit, the National Legislature will adjourn from month to month, in order to be prepared for the new plots of the rebels. In a letter of a Northern man residing in Georgia to one of our missionary societies, the writer says;
"Political matters are more and more forbidding in this State. The rebels in the Legislature have introduced a resolution, ousting some thirty members from their places in that body because they are "free persons of color." There is no law, nor justice, nor reason in such an act, but law, and justice, and reason in such an act, but law, and justice, and reason have no relationship to the deeds of Georgia rebels. There is no such thing as justice here for a man who is either colored or a Republican; and in the coming contest there will be hundreds and thousands of lives lost. Our Legislature will pass no act which will serve to protect any person in his right to vote, or prevent frauds, and there will either be thousands of black men who will vote the rebel ticket * * * * * or those thousands of black men will be driven with their wives and children into the woods to starve. I think that the Christian Republicans at the North ought to organize in some way so as to protect and feed those faithful men who will vote right here with starvation staring them and their wives and children in the face.
Convention Minutes Item Type Metadata
Convention Type
State Convention
City
Macon
State
GA
Country
USA
Start Date
1868-10-06
Provenance
Library of Congress
Event ID
1868.GA-10.06.MACO
Citation
“The Legislative Outrage Upon the Freedmen of Georgia,” Colored Conventions Project Digital Records, accessed October 22, 2026, https://omeka.coloredconventions.org/items/show/2540.