Martin R. Delany - The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States

M >> Martin R. Delany >> The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States

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God himself is perfect; perfect in all his works and ways. He has means
for every end; and every means used must be adequate to the end to be
gained. God's means are laws--fixed laws of nature, a part of His own
being, and as immutable, as unchangeable as Himself. Nothing can be
accomplished but through the medium of, and conformable to these laws.

They are _three_--and like God himself, represented in the three persons
in the God-head--the _Spiritual_, _Moral_ and _Physical_ Laws.

That which is Spiritual, can only be accomplished through the medium of
the Spiritual law; that which is Moral, through the medium of the Moral
law; and that which is Physical, through the medium of the Physical law.
Otherwise than this, it is useless to expect any thing. Does a person
want a spiritual blessing, he must apply through the medium of the
spiritual law--_pray_ for it in order to obtain it. If they desire to do
a moral good, they must apply through the medium of the moral
law--exercise their sense and feeling of _right_ and _justice_, in order
to effect it. Do they want to attain a physical end, they can only do so
through the medium of the physical law--go to _work_ with muscles,
hands, limbs, might and strength, and this, and nothing else will attain
it.

The argument that man must pray for what he receives, is a mistake, and
one that is doing the colored people especially, incalculable injury.
That man must pray in order to get to Heaven, every Christian will
admit--but a great truth we have yet got to learn, that he can live on
earth whether he is religious or not, so that he conforms to the great
law of God, regulating the things of earth; the great physical laws. It
is only necessary, in order to convince our people of their error and
palpable mistake in this matter, to call their attention to the fact,
that there are no people more religious in this Country, than the
colored people, and none so poor and miserable as they. That prosperity
and wealth, smiles upon the efforts of wicked white men, whom we know to
utter the name of God with curses, instead of praises. That among the
slaves, there are thousands of them religious, continually raising
their voices, sending up their prayers to God, invoking His aid in their
behalf, asking for a speedy deliverance; but they are still in chains,
although they have thrice suffered out their three score years and ten.
That "God sendeth rain upon the just and unjust," should be sufficient
to convince us that our success in life, does not depend upon our
religious character, but that the physical laws governing all earthly
and temporary affairs, benefit equally the just and the unjust. Any
other doctrine than this, is downright delusion, unworthy of a free
people, and only intended for slaves. That all men and women, should be
moral, upright, good and religious--we mean _Christians_--we would not
utter a word against, and could only wish that it were so; but, what we
here desire to do is, to correct the long standing error among a large
body of the colored people in this country, that the cause of our
oppression and degradation, is the displeasure of God towards us,
because of our unfaithfulness to Him. This is not true; because if God
is just--and he is--there could be no justice in prospering white men
with his fostering care, for more than two thousand years, in all their
wickedness, while dealing out to the colored people, the measure of his
displeasure, for not half the wickedness as that of the whites. Here
then is our mistake, and let it forever henceforth be corrected. We are
no longer slaves, believing any interpretation that our oppressors may
give the word of God, for the purpose of deluding us to the more easy
subjugation; but freemen, comprising some of the first minds of
intelligence and rudimental qualifications, in the country. What then is
the remedy, for our degradation and oppression? This appears now to be
the only remaining question--the means of successful elevation in this
our own native land? This depends entirely upon the application of the
means of Elevation.

V

MEANS OF ELEVATION

Moral theories have long been resorted to by us, as a means of effecting
the redemption of our brethren in bonds, and the elevation of the free
colored people in this country. Experience has taught us, that
speculations are not enough; that the _practical_ application of
principles adduced, the thing carried out, is the only true and proper
course to pursue.

We have speculated and moralised much about equality--claiming to be as
good as our neighbors, and every body else--all of which, may do very
well in ethics--but not in politics. We live in society among men,
conducted by men, governed by rules and regulations. However arbitrary,
there are certain policies that regulate all well organized institutions
and corporate bodies. We do not intend here to speak of the legal
political relations of society, for those are treated on elsewhere. The
business and social, or voluntary and mutual policies, are those that
now claim our attention. Society regulates itself--being governed by
mind, which like water, finds its own level. "Like seeks like," is a
principle in the laws of matter, as well as of mind. There is such a
thing as inferiority of things, and positions; at least society has made
them so; and while we continue to live among men, we must agree to all
_just_ measures--all those we mean, that do not necessarily infringe on
the rights of others. By the regulations of society, there is no
equality of attainments. By this, we do not wish to be understood as
advocating the actual equal attainments of every individual; but we mean
to say, that if these attainments be necessary for the elevation of the
white man, they are necessary for the elevation of the colored man. That
some colored men and women, in a like proportion to the whites, should
be qualified in all the attainments possessed by them. It is one of the
regulations of society the world over, and we shall have to conform to
it, or be discarded as unworthy of the associations of our fellows.

Cast our eyes about us and reflect for a moment, and what do we behold!
every thing that presents to view gives evidence of the skill of the
white man. Should we purchase a pound of groceries, a yard of linen, a
vessel of crockery-ware, a piece of furniture, the very provisions that
we eat,--all, all are the products of the white man, purchased by us
from the white man, consequently, our earnings and means, are all given
to the white man.

Pass along the avenues of any city or town, in which you live--behold
the trading shops--the manufacturies--see the operations of the various
machinery--see the stage-coaches coming in, bringing the mails of
intelligence--look at the railroads interlining every section, bearing
upon them their mighty trains, flying with the velocity of the swallow,
ushering in the hundreds of industrious, enterprising travellers. Cast
again your eyes widespread over the ocean--see the vessels in every
direction with their white sheets spread to the winds of heaven,
freighted with the commerce, merchandise and wealth of many nations.
Look as you pass along through the cities, at the great and massive
buildings--the beautiful and extensive structures of
architecture--behold the ten thousand cupolas, with their spires all
reared up towards heaven, intersecting the territory of the clouds--all
standing as mighty living monuments, of the industry, enterprise, and
intelligence of the white man. And yet, with all these living truths,
rebuking us with scorn, we strut about, place our hands akimbo,
straighten up ourselves to our greatest height, and talk loudly about
being "as good as any body." How do we compare with them? Our fathers
are their coachmen, our brothers their cookmen, and ourselves their
waiting-men. Our mothers their nurse-women, our sisters their
scrub-women, our daughters their maid-women, and our wives their
washer-women. Until colored men, attain to a position above permitting
their mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters, to do the drudgery and
menial offices of other men's wives and daughters; it is useless, it is
nonsense, it is pitiable mockery, to talk about equality and elevation
in society. The world is looking upon us, with feelings of
commiseration, sorrow, and contempt. We scarcely deserve sympathy, if we
peremptorily refuse advice, bearing upon our elevation.

We will suppose a case for argument: In this city reside, two colored
families, of three sons and three daughters each. At the head of each
family, there is an old father and mother. The opportunities of these
families, may or may not be the same for educational advantages--be that
as it may, the children of the one go to school, and become qualified
for the duties of life. One daughter becomes school-teacher, another a
mantua-maker, and a third a fancy shop-keeper; while one son becomes a
farmer, another a merchant, and a third a mechanic. All enter into
business with fine prospects, marry respectably, and settle down in
domestic comfort--while the six sons and daughters of the other family,
grow up without educational and business qualifications, and the highest
aim they have, is to apply to the sons and daughters of the first named
family, to hire for domestics! Would there be an equality here between
the children of these two families? Certainly not. This, then, is
precisely the position of the colored people generally in the United
States, compared with the whites. What is necessary to be done, in order
to attain an equality, is to change the condition, and the person is at
once changed. If, as before stated, a knowledge of all the various
business enterprises, trades, professions, and sciences, is necessary
for the elevation of the white, a knowledge of them also is necessary
for the elevation of the colored man; and he cannot be elevated without
them.

White men are producers--we are consumers. They build houses, and we
rent them. They raise produce, and we consume it. They manufacture
clothes and wares, and we garnish ourselves with them. They build
coaches, vessels, cars, hotels, saloons, and other vehicles and places
of accommodation, and we deliberately wait until they have got them in
readiness, then walk in, and contend with as much assurance for a
"right," as though the whole thing was bought by, paid for, and belonged
to us. By their literary attainments, they are the contributors to,
authors and teachers of, literature, science, religion, law, medicine,
and all other useful attainments that the world now makes use of. We
have no reference to ancient times--we speak of modern things.

These are the means by which God intended man to succeed: and this
discloses the secret of the white man's success with all of his
wickedness, over the head of the colored man, with all of his religion.
We have been pointed and plain, on this part of the subject, because we
desire our readers to see persons and things in their true position.
Until we are determined to change the condition of things, and raise
ourselves above the position in which we are now prostrated, we must
hang our heads in sorrow, and hide our faces in shame. It is enough to
know that these things are so; the causes we care little about. Those we
have been examining, complaining about, and moralising over, all our
life time. This we are weary of. What we desire to learn now is, how to
effect a _remedy_; this we have endeavored to point out. Our elevation
must be the result of _self-efforts_, and work of our _own hands_. No
other human power can accomplish it. If we but determine it shall be so,
it will be so. Let each one make the case his own, and endeavor to rival
his neighbor, in honorable competition.

These are the proper and only means of elevating ourselves and attaining
equality in this country or any other, and it is useless, utterly
futile, to think about going any where, except we are determined to use
these as the necessary means of developing our manhood. The means are at
hand, within our reach. Are we willing to try them? Are we willing to
raise ourselves superior to the condition of slaves, or continue the
meanest underlings, subject to the beck and call of every creature
bearing a pale complexion? If we are, we had as well remained in the
South, as to have come to the North in search of more freedom. What was
the object of our parents in leaving the south, if it were not for the
purpose of attaining equality in common with others of their fellow
citizens, by giving their children access to all the advantages enjoyed
by others? Surely this was their object. They heard of liberty and
equality here, and they hastened on to enjoy it, and no people are more
astonished and disappointed than they, who for the first time, on
beholding the position we occupy here in the free north--what is called,
and what they expect to find, the free States. They at once tell us,
that they have as much liberty in the south as we have in the
north--that there as free people, they are protected in their
rights--that we have nothing more--that in other respects they have the
same opportunity, indeed the preferred opportunity, of being their
maids, servants, cooks, waiters, and menials in general, there, as we
have here--that had they known for a moment, before leaving, that such
was to be the only position they occupied here, they would have remained
where they were, and never left. Indeed, such is the disappointment in
many cases, that they immediately return back again, completely insulted
at the idea, of having us here at the north, assume ourselves to be
their superiors. Indeed, if our superior advantages of the free States,
do not induce and stimulate us to the higher attainments in life, what
in the name of degraded humanity will do it? Nothing, surely nothing.
If, in fine, the advantages of free schools in Massachusetts, New York,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and wherever else we may have them, do not
give us advantages and pursuits superior to our slave brethren, then are
the unjust assertions of Messrs. Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, Theodore
Frelinghuysen, late Governor Poindexter of Mississippi, George McDuffy,
Governor Hammond of South Carolina, Extra Billy (present Governor)
Smith, of Virginia, and the host of our oppressors, slave-holders and
others, true, that we are insusceptible and incapable of elevation to
the more respectable, honorable, and higher attainments among white men.
But this we do not believe--neither do you, although our whole life and
course of policy in this country are such, that it would seem to prove
otherwise. The degradation of the slave parent has been entailed upon
the child, induced by the subtle policy of the oppressor, in regular
succession handed down from father to son--a system of regular
submission and servitude, menialism and dependence, until it has become
almost a physiological function of our system, an actual condition of
our nature. Let this no longer be so, but let us determine to equal the
whites among whom we live, not by declarations and unexpressed
self-opinion, for we have always had enough of that, but by actual proof
in acting, doing, and carrying out practically, the measures of
equality. Here is our nativity, and here have we the natural right to
abide and be elevated through the measures of our own efforts.

VI

THE UNITED STATES OUR COUNTRY

Our common country is the United States. Here were we born, here raised
and educated; here are the scenes of childhood; the pleasant
associations of our school going days; the loved enjoyments of our
domestic and fireside relations, and the sacred graves of our departed
fathers and mothers, and from here will we not be driven by any policy
that may be schemed against us.

We are Americans, having a birthright citizenship--natural claims upon
the country--claims common to all others of our fellow citizens--natural
rights, which may, by virtue of unjust laws, be obstructed, but never
can be annulled. Upon these do we place ourselves, as immovably fixed as
the decrees of the living God. But according to the economy that
regulates the policy of nations, upon which rests the basis of
justifiable claims to all freeman's rights, it may be necessary to take
another view of, and enquire into the political claims of colored men.

VII

CLAIMS OF COLORED MEN AS CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES

The political basis upon which rests the establishment of all free
nations, as the first act in their organization, is the security by
constitutional provisions, of the fundamental claims of citizenship.

The legitimate requirement, politically considered, necessary to the
justifiable claims for protection and full enjoyment of all the rights
and privileges of an unqualified freeman, in all democratic countries
is, that each person so endowed, shall have made contributions and
investments in the country. Where there is no investment there can be
but little interest; hence an adopted citizen is required to reside a
sufficient length of time, to form an attachment and establish some
interest in the country of his adoption, before he can rightfully lay
any claims to citizenship. The pioneer who leads in the discovery or
settlement of a country, as the first act to establish a right therein,
erects a building of whatever dimensions, and seizes upon a portion of
the soil. The soldier, who braves the dangers of the battle-field, in
defence of his country's rights, and the toiling laborer and husbandman,
who cuts down and removes the forest, levels and constructs post-roads
and other public highways--the mechanic, who constructs and builds up
houses, villages, towns, and cities, for the conveniency of
inhabitants--the farmer, who cultivates the soil for the production of
breadstuffs and forage, as food and feed for man and beast--all of
these are among the first people of a democratic state, whose claims are
legitimate as freemen of the commonwealth. A freeman in a political
sense, is a citizen of unrestricted rights in the state, being eligible
to the highest position known to their civil code. They are the
preferred persons in whom may be invested the highest privileges, and to
whom may be entrusted fundamentally the most sacred rights of the
country; because, having made the greatest investments, they necessarily
have the greatest interests; and consequently, are the safest hands into
which to place so high and sacred a trust. Their interest being the
country's, and the interest of the country being the interest of the
people; therefore, the protection of their own interests necessarily
protects the interests of the whole country and people. It is this
simple but great principle of primitive rights, that forms the
fundamental basis of citizenship in all free countries, and it is upon
this principle, that the rights of the colored man in this country to
citizenship are fixed.

The object of this volume is, to enlighten the minds of a large class of
readers upon a subject with which they are unacquainted, expressed in
comprehensible language, therefore we have studiously avoided using
political and legal phrases, that would serve more to perplex than
inform them. To talk about the barons, King John, and the Magna Charta,
would be foreign to a work like this, and only destroy the interest that
otherwise might be elicited in the subject. Our desire is, to arrest the
attention of the American people in general, and the colored people in
particular, to great truths as heretofore but little thought of. What
claims then have colored men, based upon the principles set forth, as
fundamentally entitled to citizenship? Let the living records of history
answer the enquiry.

When Christopher Columbus, in 1492, discovered America, natives were
found to pay little or no attention to cultivation, being accustomed by
hereditary pursuit, to war, fishing, and the sports of the chase. The
Spaniards and Portuguese, as well as other Europeans who ventured here,
came as mineral speculators, and not for the purpose of improving the
country.

As the first objects of speculation are the developments of the mineral
wealth of every newly discovered country, so was it with this. Those who
came to the new world, were not of the common people, seeking in a
distant land the means of livelihood, but moneyed capitalists, the
grandees and nobles, who reduced the natives to servitude by confining
them to the mines. To have brought large numbers of the peasantry at
that early period, from the monarchies of Europe, to the wilds of
America, far distant from the civil and military powers of the home
governments, would have been to place the means of self-control into
their own hands, and invite them to rebellion against the crowns. The
capitalist miners were few, compared to the number of laborers required;
and the difficulty at that time of the transportation of suitable
provisions for their sustenance, conduced much to the objection of
bringing them here. The natives were numerous, then easily approached by
the wily seductions of the Europeans, easily yoked and supported, having
the means of sustenance at hand, the wild fruits and game of the forest,
the fish of the waters and birds of the country. All these as naturally
enough, European adventurers would be cautious against introducing into
common use among hundreds of thousands of laborers, under all the
influences incident of a foreign climate in a foreign country, in its
primitive natural state. The Indians were then preferred for many
reasons, as the common laborers on the continent, where nothing but the
mining interests were thought of or carried on. This noble race of
Aborigines, continued as the common slaves of the new world, to bear the
yoke of foreign oppression, until necessity induced a substitute for
them. They sunk by scores under the heavy weight of oppression, and were
fast passing from the shores of time. At this, the foreigners grew
alarmed, and of necessity, devised ways and means to obtain an adequate
substitute. A few European laborers were brought into the country, but
the influence of climate and mode of living, operated entirely against
them. They were as inadequate to stand the climate, as the nobles were
themselves.

From the earliest period of the history of nations, the African race had
been known as an industrious people, cultivators of the soil. The grain
fields of Ethiopia and Egypt were the themes of the poet, and their
garners, the subject of the historian. Like the present America, all the
world went to Africa, to get a supply of commodities. Their massive
piles of masonry, their skilful architecture, their subterranean vaults,
their deep and mysterious wells, their extensive artificial channels,
their mighty sculptured solid rocks, and provinces of stone quarries;
gave indisputable evidence, of the hardihood of that race of people.

Nor was Africa then, without the evidence of industry, as history will
testify. All travelers who had penetrated towards the interior of the
continent, have been surprised at the seeming state of civilization and
evidences of industry among the inhabitants of that vast country. These
facts were familiar to Europeans, who were continually trading on the
coast of Africa, as it was then the most important part of adventure and
research, known to the world. In later periods still, the history of
African travelers, confirm all the former accounts concerning the
industry of the people.

John and Richard Lander, two young English noblemen, in 1828, under the
patronage of the English government, sailed to the western coast of
Africa, on an expedition of research. In their voyage up the river
Niger, their description of the scenes is extravagant. They represent
the country on each side of the river, for several hundred miles up the
valley, as being not only beautiful and picturesque, but the fields as
in a high state of cultivation, clothed in the verdure of husbandry,
waving before the gentle breezes, with the rich products of
industry--maize, oats, rye, millet, and wheat, being among the fruits of
cultivation. The fences were of various descriptions: hedge, wicker,
some few pannel, and the old fashioned zig-zag, known as the "Virginia
worm fence"--the hedge and worm fence being the most common. Their
cattle were fine and in good order, looking in every particular, except
perhaps in size, as well as European cattle on the best managed farms.
The fruit groves were delightful to the eye of the beholder. Every
variety common to the country, were there to be seen in a high state of
cultivation. Their roads and public highways were in good condition, and
well laid out, as by the direction of skillful supervising surveyors.
The villages, towns, and cities, many of them, being a credit to the
people. Their cities were well laid out, and presented evidence of
educated minds and mechanical ingenuity. In many of the workshops in
which they went, they found skillful workmen, in iron, copper, brass,
steel, and gold; and their implements of husbandry and war, were as well
manufactured by African sons of toil, as any in the English
manufactories, save that they had not quite so fine a finish, garnish
and embellishment. This is a description, given of the industry and
adaptedness of the people of Africa, to labor and toil of every kind. As
it was very evident, that where there were manufactories of various
metals, the people must of necessity be inured to mining operations, so
it was also very evident, that this people must be a very hardy and
enduring people.

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