New Hampshire Ridicules South Carolina’s Attempts
to Game the System After Rejecting the 14th Amendment |
Click to enlarge:
[AFRICAN AMERICAN].
Broadside. “Part of a Speech of the N. H. “Champion of Democracy” on the Negro Question,” no place, [New Hampshire], c. 1867. 1 p., 9½ x 13½ in.
Inventory #22840
Price: $1,250
Excerpt:
“New Hampshire and South Carolina.
There are more than three hundred thousand white people in New Hampshire. In South Carolina, there are less than three hundred thousand whites, and more than four hundred thousand negroes. If the negroes are not counted, there are more people in New Hampshire than in South Carolina. If the negroes are counted, there are more than twice as many people in South Carolina as in New Hampshire But for the convenience of round numbers, call New Hampshire three hundred thousand (300,000) whites, and call South Carolina three hundred thousand (300,000) whites and three hundred thousand (300,000) negroes....Our 300,000 white people in New Hampshire have 3 Representatives, and the 300,000 white people in South Carolina ought to have 3 Representatives, and no more. But if the whites in South Carolina count the 300,000 negroes, they have 600,000 whites and negroes together. If they count the negroes, they double their own “numbers, and get 6 Members of Congress.”
Historical Background
After the Civil War, many southern states began passing black codes that restricted freedom of movement, labor, and access to firearms and the courts. In response to this attempt at returning the freedmen to a state of slavery, Congress proposed a 14th amendment to the Constitution that that would guarantee citizenship, due process, and equal protection to the freedmen and women.
Once Andrew Johnson won reelection in 1866, he actively encouraged the southern states to reject the 14th Amendment. With the exception of Tennessee, all followed his advice. Despite having rejected the amendment, South Carolina, among other states, wanted the benefit of counting the population of freedmen and women in its entirety in their censuses for Congressional representation. This New Hampshire Republican tirade vilifies the South Carolina position as wanting to have it both ways—counting the freedmen and women for representation while simultaneously denying them the right to vote, equal protection, and other civil rights.
The speaker argues that without black voters, South Carolina would enjoy twice the Congressional Representation of New Hampshire despite having a similar-sized white population., thus handing the “Rebels” a victory in Congress that they could not win on the battlefield. Instead, the speaker forcefully argues that instead of Constitutional benefits for treason, “Traitors, to be sure, have no Constitutional rights, except to be hung.”
