A Social History of the American Negro - Being a History of the Negro Problem in the United States. Including - A History and Study of the Republic of Liberia by Benjamin Brawley
page 194 of 545 (35%)
page 194 of 545 (35%)
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them as to their intentions they replied with transparent good humor
that they intended no violence and had assembled only for the purpose of conveying to shore such of the persons on the _Creole_ as might be permitted to leave and might need their assistance. The Attorney General required, however, that they throw overboard a dozen stout cudgels that they had. Here the whole case really rested. Daniel Webster as Secretary of State aroused the anti-slavery element by making a strong demand for the return of the slaves, basing his argument on the sacredness of vessels flying the American flag; but the English authorities at Nassau never returned any of them. On March 21, 1842, Joshua R. Giddings, untiring defender of the rights of the Negro, offered in the House of Representatives resolutions to the effect that slavery could exist only by positive law of the different states; that the states had delegated no control over slavery to the Federal Government, which alone had jurisdiction on the high seas, and that, therefore, slaves on the high seas became free and the coastwise trade was unconstitutional. The House, strongly pro-Southern, replied with a vote of censure and Giddings resigned, but he was immediately reƫlected by his Ohio constituency. CHAPTER VIII THE NEGRO REPLY, II: ORGANIZATION AND AGITATION It is not the purpose of the present chapter primarily to consider social progress on the part of the Negro. A little later we shall |
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