Why I Am NOT A Democrat-4: Comments by ‘Reconstruction Blacks’ On Democrats

The ‘Reconstruction Period’ is the period of 10 years after the end of the Civil War from 1866-1876. During this period, Blacks were elected to political offices all over the south at both the federal and state levels. What is most interesting are the views of the following duly elected Black officials concerning the Democrat Party. In other words, the following are opinions of American Black Fathers on the Democrat Party!!
  The Bible declares:
         “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.”
​                                                        -Pro22:28
 
  The following views of historical Black heroes* ought to be considered by contemporary Blacks in their continued irrational support of the Democrat Party!!!

Civil Rights Bill of 1871
First up is Robert Brown Elliott, elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from 1871 to 1874 from South Carolina. Speaking before the House on a bill to prosecute KKK violence,
 
Mr. Elliott declared:
“The Democratic Party of the South as evidenced in the utterances of its recognized organs (official writings) and leaders…exhibits the declared purpose to defeat the ballot with the bullet and other coercive means…I have presented a few of the manifold proofs….in support of the facts warranting the passage of this bill. I have sworn the declared purpose of the Ku Klux organization, and I refer to the official records of nearly every southern state during the past ten months to show how that bloody purpose has in part been executed. This bill will tend in some degree to prevent its full achievement.
 
 I do not wish to be understood as speaking for the colored race alone when I demand instant protection for the loyal men of the south. No sir---my demand is not so restricted…The White Republican of the South is also hunted down and murdered or scourged for his opinion’s sake, and during the past two years, more than 600 men of the south of both races have perished in my State alone. Yet, sir, it is true that these masked murderers strike chiefly at the black race….Simply because he exercises his privileges as an American freeman, you (Democrats) would drive him into exile with the pitiless lash, or doom him to swift murder---seeking your revenge for political power lost by moving at midnight along the path of the assassin!
 
I trust sir, that this bill will pass quickly, and be quickly enforced,...lest the Democrat Party triumph in the States of the south through armed violence.”**

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Let’s move forward to another Black U.S House Representative Joseph Haynes Rainey, also from South Carolina. Also speaking on the same bill against KKK violence, he declared:
“What we call to mind the fact that this (Klan) persecution is waged against men for the simple reason that they dare vote with the Republican Party that saved the Union intact,…the question is sometimes asked, “Why do not the courts of law afford redress?”…We answer, that the courts are in many instances under the control of those (Democrats) who are wholly inimical (enemies) to the impartial administration of law and equity. What benefit would result from an appeal to tribunals (courts) whose officers are secretly in sympathy with the very evil against which we are striving?...If the Negroes—numbering one-eighth of the population of these United States—would only cast their votes in the interest of the Democrat Party, all open measures of violence against them would be immediately suspended and their rights as American citizens recognized. But…I can only say that we love freedom more—vastly more—than slavery; consequently, we hope to keep clear of the Democrats!
 
…I will say that in the State of South Carolina, there is no disturbance of an alarming character in any one of the counties in which the Republicans have a majority. The troubles are usually in those sections in which the Democrats have pre-dominance in power, and, not content with this, desire to be supreme…I say…to the Gentlemen of Opposition, and to the entire membership of the Democratic Party, that upon your hands rests the blood of the loyal men of the South. Disclaim it as you will, the stain is there to prove your criminality before God and the world in the day of retribution that will surely come. I pity the man—who would seek to ride into power over the dead body of a legitimate opponent….I can say for my people that we ardently desire peace for ourselves and for the whole nation. Come what will, we are fully determined to stand by the Republican Party and the government….Be it as it may, we have resolved to be loyal and firm, “if we perish, we perish”, I earnestly hope this bill will pass.”***
 
In case you’re interested, this bill did pass, “but only over the united unanimous opposition of Democrats! Not one Democrat, north or south supported the civil rights bill to punish Klan violence.****
​

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​Civil Rights Bill of 1875
Third up is U.S. Representative from South Carolina, Reverend Richard Cain, bishop of the A.M.E. Church.
 
“I have sat in this house nearly nine months and I have listened to gentlemen recognized as the leaders on the other side (Democrats) attempting to demonstrate…the inferiority of a race of men whom they have so long outraged, and to cast a slur upon them because they have been helpless…And the gentlemen (Democrat)from Virginia calls in question the propriety of passing the civil rights bill. I cannot agree with him…Why not pass the civil rights bill?... The civil rights bill simply declares this: that there shall be no discrimination between citizens of this land so far as the laws of the land are concerned. I can find no fault with that.
 
The great living principle of the American government is that all men are free. We admit from every land and every nationality men to come here and, under the folds of that noble flag, reposed in peace and protection…Yet because, forsooth (in truth), God Almighty made the face of the Negro black, Democrats would deny him that right though he be a man…Mr Speaker, I regard the civil rights bill as among the best measures that ever came before Congress. Why, sir? It is at the foundation of good government…I have no fear for the future… I have faith in this country…The great principle which underlies our government—of liberty, of justice, of right---will eventually prevail in this land and we shall enjoy equal rights under laws…Let the laws of the country be just; let the laws of the country be equitable; this is all we ask, and we will take our chances under the laws in this land…Place all citizens upon one broad platform; and if the Negro is not qualified to hoe his row in this contest of life, then let him go down.
 
All we ask of this country is to put no barriers between us---to lay no stumbling blocks in our way, to give us freedom to accomplish our destiny…Do this, sir, and we shall ask nothing more.”*****
 
   And I repeat, these are not my words, but these are the very words of Black U.S. elected officials during the Reconstruction Period (1866-1876) spoken on the floor of the U.S House of Representatives.
 
The final question is what will YOU do with this information? I see only two options:
1.Ignore it
2.Change
 
Stay-tuned! Much more to come!
 
 
*a special thanks to David Barton, ‘Setting the Record Straight: American History in Black and White’, Wallbuilders Press, 2004, for the hard work of digging out this information.
**Congressional Globe, 42nd Congress, 1st Session (Washington, DC: Congressional Globe Office, 1871), pg 390-92, Rep Robert Brown Elliot addressing the KKK Bil, April 1, 1871.
Or,
https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwcglink.html#anchor42
*** Congressional Globe, 42nd Congress, 1st Session (Washington, DC: Congressional Globe Office, 1871), pg 394-395, Rep Joseph Haynes Rainey, addressing the KKK Bill, April 1, 1871.
****Congressional Globe, 42nd Congress, 1st Session (Washington, DC: Congressional Globe Office, 1871), pg 808-809, the KKK Bill, April 1, 1871.
Barton, David, ‘Setting the Record Straight: American History in Black and White’, Wallbuilders Press, 2004, pg73
***** Congressional Record, 43rd Congress, 2nd Session, pg956-957, Rep. Richard Cain speech on the Civil Rights Bill, February 3, 1875
or
https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llcr&fileName=004/llcr004.db&recNum=0
 
Quotebit
We must learn to apply all that we know so that we can attract all that we want.
                                             - Jim Rohn

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