[46] It is doubtful if any greater mistake was made in dealing with the South after the War than in disfranchising the leading Southern whites and granting the Negro suffrage. The Negro might have been given the ballot gradually as he proved himself fitted for it without any detriment. But considering the race as a whole—it may be putting it too mild—it may be too great a compliment to the Negro,—too disparaging to the intelligence of the average white boy,—to say that the Negroes, with some exceptions, at that time were no more fit for the ballot than seven-year-old boys. Nor was it any more reasonable to expect them to act the part of men in using it, or in political affairs, than to expect it from seven-year-old boys. They were, and to a large extent are yet, a race in its childhood. President Lincoln, however, seems to have understood better than any one else of his party what was for the best interest of both races: That [47]the Negroes, at least, for a while, with proper guarantees and restrictions, should be in a position of tutelage or apprenticeship to the whites. Indeed, there is little doubt that he expected the Southern States to make some such temporary arrangements, for in a proclamation, December 8, 1863, in reference to the reëstablishment of State governments by several States of the farther South, he says: [47] “That any provision which may be adopted by such State government, in relation to the freed people of such State which shall recognize and declare their permanent freedom, provide for their education, and which may yet be consistent as a temporary arrangement with their present condition as a laboring, landless and homeless class, will not be objected to by the National Executive.” But unfortunately for both races in the South, Lincoln was assassinated. FOOTNOTES: [30:1] Elizabeth Collins, “Memories of the Southern States,” p. 46. [30:1] [31:2] The Frankfort (Ky.) Commonwealth, The Charleston (S. C.) Mercury, The Louisville (Ky.) Democrat for 1863 and 1864, The Daily News (Savannah), for 1862 and one Northern paper, The Liberator (Boston) for 1863. The books of travel include Elizabeth Collins’ “Memories of the Southern States.” [31:2]
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