David Barton U.S. Congress's blog

The Clansman by David Barton

By 1900, Democrats actually began actively to seek a repeal of the 14th and 15th Amendments. As Democratic Senator Ben Tillman from South Carolina explained:

We made up our minds that the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution were themselves null and void; that the civil rights acts of Congress . . . were null and void; that oaths required by such laws were null and void.

 

According to prominent Democratic leader A. W. Terrell of Texas, the 15th Amendment guaranteeing black voting rights was “the political blunder of the century.” Democrats from both the North and the South agreed with Terrell and were among the Democrats seeking a repeal of the 15th Amendment. In fact, Democratic U. S. Senator Samuel McEnery of Louisiana even declared: “I believe . . . that not a single southern Senator would object to such a move.” Fortunately, these Democrats were unsuccessful in their efforts to repeal the 14th and 15th Amendments.

 

In 1901, at the same time that Democrat were seeking to roll back the civil rights amendments to the Constitution, Republican President Teddy Roosevelt raised the ire of many Democrats by inviting Booker T. Washington to the White House. Washington became the first African American to dine with a President at the White House. While Booker T. Washington’s wise counsel was snubbed by Democratic President Woodrow Wilson, it was gladly sought by three Republican Presidents for whom he served as advisor, including William Taft, William McKinley, and Teddy Roosevelt.

 

In 1915, the pro-Klan movie Birth of a Nation was released. It became a recruiting tool to help the Klan reach its peak membership of almost two million. That film by D. W. Griffith – the – was based on a book called The Clansman that had been written by open racist Thomas Dixon, Jr. Both Griffith and Dixon had incorporated material from Democrat Woodrow Wilson’s History of the American People, including Wilson’s latent support for the Klan and its abominable practice of Southern Redemption. In fact, President Woodrow president Teddy Roosevelt democrat president Woodrow Wilson showed this pro-Klan movie at the white house Wilson even showed this racist Klan-recruiting film at the White House – the first film ever shown at the White House. Wilson also enacted pro-segregation policies within his administration; and under his tenure as President, the Democrat-controlled U. S. House passed a bill making it a felony for any black to marry a white in Washington, D. C.

The Democratic Efforts by David Barton

You cannot expect the Negro to rise while the Democrats are trampling upon him and his rights. We ask you, sir, to do by the Negro as you ought to do by him in justice. If the Democrats are such staunch friends of the Negro, why is it that when propositions are offered here and elsewhere looking to the elevation of the colored race and the extension of right and justice to them, do the Democrats array themselves in unbroken phalanx organized ranks and vote against every such measure? Frederick Douglass agreed with Rainey and also affirmed the basic Democratic hostility for those civil rights. Douglass had explained:

In all the southern States, the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of the Constitution are practically of no force or effect. . . . By means of the shotgun and midnight raid, the old master class has triumphed over the newly enfranchised citizen and put the Constitution under their feet. . . . The colored people, who largely outnumber the whites and who are Republican in politics, have been banished from the ballot box and robbed of representation in the councils of the nation and . . . the social condition of the colored people in that section is but little above what it was in the time of slavery.

 

The unrelenting Democratic efforts to suppress black voting were successful. For example, in Mississippi in 1892, there were almost 70,000 more blacks than whites in the State; yet white voters outnumbered black voters by a margin of 8 to 1. And in Birmingham, of the 18,000 blacks who lived in the city at the turn of the century, only 30 were eligible to vote. In Texas the number of black voters fell from 100,000 to only 5,000; the number of black voters in Alabama and Florida was reduced by nearly 90 percent; and by the 1940s, only 5 percent of blacks in the South were registered to vote. In fact, in 1965 in Selma, Alabama – a city with more black residents than white residents – the voting rolls were 99 percent white and only 1 percent black. Clearly, those voter suppression efforts by Democrats were successful.

Returning to the 1800s, recall that Democrats regained partial control of Congress in 1876. That partial control continued for the next sixteen years until 1893 when Democrat Grover Cleveland was elected President and Democrats gained control of both the House and Senate; Douglass fought for civil rights and later witnessed their violation by democrats for the first time since Abraham Lincoln, Democrats had full control of the lawmaking process. Given their new powers, what did Democrats do to assist civil rights? Nothing– not a single civil rights law was passed by Democrats during that time. In fact, Democrats immediately began repealing the civil rights laws that had not yet been struck down by the Supreme Court; they even repealed the civil rights laws protecting black voting rights as well as those punishing Klan violence. In 1896, shortly after the Democrats had repealed those laws, the Supreme Court issued its Plessey v. Ferguson decision reaffirming its pro-segregation policy.

The Three Black Regiments by David Barton

This election official could find only one black American in the entire State of Mississippi who was a Democrat! Significantly, in Mississippi at that time, there were 444,000 blacks and only 383,000 whites; 180 and since blacks voted overwhelmingly Republican, only by preventing them from voting could Democrats defeat the new State constitution with its civil rights provisions – hence the cause of the violence. In fact, a newspaper illustration from that time shows a murdered African American with KKK etched on the wall above him and the caption “One Vote Less,” demonstrating the declaration of Colonel French Smith at a Democratic convention in Texas in which he declared, “I love to kill Indians, but would rather kill one Negro than two Indians!” Despite this strident opposition throughout the southern States, the new constitutions were eventually passed and a number of black Americans were elected to national office. An 1872 print by Currier one of the ways that democrats kept African Americans from voting republican and Ives showed the first seven black Americans elected to the U. S. Congress 183 – all were Republicans.

On the left side of that group was Hiram Rhodes Revels from Mississippi. An ordained minister, he served as a missionary and pastor, recruited three black regiments, and was a chaplain during the Civil War. Revels became America’s first black U. S. Senator. Next was Benjamin Turner of Alabama. Turner was a slave during the Civil War but within five years after the war had become a wealthy and prosperous businessman.

Third was Robert De Large of South Carolina. Born as a slave, the first seven African Americans elected to the U. S. congress – all republicans

Rev. Revels recruited three black regiments within three years from the end of the War he was serving in the State House; he also chaired the Republican Party’s Platform Committee and became a statewide elected official.

Fourth was Josiah Walls of Florida. Walls was a slave during the Civil War and was forced to fight for the Confederate Army; after he was captured by Union troops, he promptly enlisted as a Union soldier and became an officer. Following his election to Congress, his credentials were challenged by Democrats and he was twice sent home. He was re-elected after the first challenge, but during the second challenge, Democrats regained control of Florida and he was prevented from returning.

Fifth was Jefferson Long of Georgia. Born as a slave, he was self-educated and built a thriving business. However, when elected to Congress as a Republican, Democrats boycotted his business, causing him great financial losses. Long was the first black American to deliver a congressional speech in the U. S. House.

Sixth was Joseph Hayne Rainey of South Carolina. Born a slave, he actually served briefly as Speaker of the U. S. House and was in Congress longer than any other black American from that era.

The seventh was Robert Brown Elliott, also of South Carolina. He was well educated, reading in Spanish, French, and Latin. In Congress, he led in the passage of civil rights bills over the strident opposition of congressional Democrats; he later became Speaker of the House in the State legislature. Just as they had with Rep. Josiah Walls, Democrats in Congress regularly challenged the credentials of black Americans, attempting to have them expelled from Congress on technical or procedural grounds. An 1870 Cleveland newspaper described the attempt by the Democrats to prevent the seating of Hiram Rhodes Revels as the nation’s first black Senator: The business relative to the credentials of Mr. Revels as Senator from Mississippi was taken up. The debate which followed assumed a wide range of political questions.

Promulgation by David Barton

 

The promulgation of the great doctrines of religion – the being, and attributes, and providence of one Almighty God; the responsibility to Him for all our actions, founded upon moral story’s accountability; a future state of rewards and punishments; the cultivation of all the personal, social, and benevolent virtues – these never can be a matter of indifference in any well-ordered community. It is, indeed, difficult to conceive how any civilized society can well exist without them. And, at all events, it is impossible for those who believe in the truth of Christianity as a Divine revelation to doubt that it is the especial duty of government to foster and encourage it among all the citizens and subjects. . . . [A]t the time of the adoption of the Constitution and of the [First] amendment to it . . . the general, if not the universal, sentiment in America was, that Christianity ought to receive encouragement from the State. . . . An attempt to level all religions, and to make it a matter of state policy to hold all in utter indifference, would have created universal disapprobation, if not universal indignation. 91 Joseph Story believed that it was proper to encourage Christianity in the government sphere and in the public arena. He even announced that he would not support anyone who attempted to weaken or remove Christianity’s influence from society. He declared:

 

David Barton believe Christianity necessary to the support of civil society, and shall ever attend to its institutions and acknowledge its precepts as the pure and natural sources of private and social happiness. The man who could subvert its influence will never receive [approval] from me. 92 (emphasis added) Strong sentiments from Justice Joseph Story, who sat at bench in the Old Supreme Court Chamber and who today is still called “A Father of American Jurisprudence.”

David Barton U.S. Congress

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Journey to Africa by David Barton

Many important Justices have occupied the Old Supreme Court Chamber and filled its chairs; many important attorneys have argued their cases within that chamber; and many important decisions have been handed down in that room of the Capitol. Two of those cases are worth noting – both of which occurred while Justice Story sat at bench. 

 

One occurred in 1841 and dealt with the Spanish slave-trading ship Amistad. Following the ship’s journey to Africa to capture slaves, the enslaved Africans revolted in defense of their own liberty, seized control of the Amistad, and killed the Captain and first mate. However, not knowing how to navigate the ship they now possessed, they forced two surviving Spaniards to sail them back to Africa. 

 

David Barton tells us that the Spaniards deceptively sailed the ship to America while convincing the Africans that they were returning to Africa. When the Africans finally disembarked, they found themselves not in Africa but in Connecticut. The two Spaniards then filed charges in American courts against the now free Africans, seeking their return to slavery. The case 93 proceeded through the legal system and an elderly John Quincy Adams was engaged to argue this case before the Supreme Court. Standing firmly n the principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence, former President John Quincy Adams, now a member of Congress, eloquently – and successfully – argued for the freedom of the Africans. 

 

At the end of that case, in what became his last words ever spoken before the Supreme Court, Adams stood in the Old Supreme Court Chamber, reminisced about the changes he had seen during his long life, and then closed by offering his heart’s prayer for each Justice then sitting on the bench. He told the Court:

 

May it please your Honors, on the 7th of February, 1804, now more than thirty-seven years past, my name was entered and yet stands recorded . . . as one of the Attorneys and Counsellors of this Court. Five years later . . . I appeared for the last time before this Court, . . . [for v]ery shortly afterwards, I was called to the discharge of other duties – first in distant lands, and in later years, within our own country, but in different departments of her government. Little did I imagine that I should ever again be required to claim the right of appearing in the capacity of an officer of this Court; yet such has been the dictate of my destiny. . . .

Faithful Servant by David Barton

 

I stand before the same Court, but not before the same judges. . . . As I cast my eyes along those seats of honor  . . . and that you may, every one of you, after the close of a long and virtuous with the approving sentence – “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of the Lord.” and of public trust, now occupied by you, they seek in vain for one of those honored and honorable persons whose indulgence listened then to my voice. Marshall – Cushing – Chase – Washington – Johnson – Livingston – Todd – Where are they?. . . Where are they all? Gone! Gone! All gone! . . . I humbly hope, and fondly trust, that they have gone to receive the rewards of blessedness on high. In taking, then, my final leave of . . . this honorable Court, I can only [offer] a fervent [prayer] to Heaven that every member of [this Court] may go to his final account with as little of earthly frailty to answer for as possible career in this world, be received at the portals of [Heaven]

 

David Barton explains us that John Quincy Adams’ final case before the Court closed with his fervent prayer that everyone then seated on the Court might enter Heaven under the blessed approval of God Almighty. A powerful prayer which occurred in this room of the Capitol from a powerful Christian statesmen!