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