Setting the Record Straight: American History in Black & White by David Barton; pages Pg. 35-47

 Pg. 35 Story of Lincoln

-Mrs. Carolyn Johnson of Philadelphia, the African American president of an organization to help soldiers

-Mrs. Johnson, who had been a slave, want to make a gift and give it to President Lincoln for what he had done for black Americans

-A Quaker friend wrote a letter to Lincoln to introduce him to Mrs. Johnson

-President Lincoln agreed to meet her

-she brought her Baptist minister with her because she was afraid she would embarrass herself

-the minister spoke and then turned to Mrs. Johnson to all her to speak

“Mr. President, I believe God has hewn you out of the rock for this great and mighty purpose; so many have been led away by bribes, by silver and gold, but you have stood firm because God was with you.”

-President Lincoln responded, "You must give God the praise, and not man.”

-Mrs. Johnson presented Lincoln with a magnificent basket of wax fruit that he personally make for him

***there are many accounts of the strong Christian faith of black Americans 

-in 1865, there were numerous celebrations by black Americans at the end of the Civil War

-before the end of the war, a vote had been held in Congress on the constitutional amendment to abolish slavery

***The 13th Amendment

-Congress passed the Amendment and a poster was quickly issued to honor the 157 members of Congress who had voted to end slavery

Pg. 37-38 The Vote:

-114 Republicans in Congress

-84 northern Democrats

-34 third party Congressmen

-out of 84 Democrats, only 18 voted to end slavery (only 21%)

-79% of northern Democrats in Congress voted to continue slavery

***this is significant because under the Constitution, the President has not role in the passage of a constitutional amendment

-a constitutional amendment is passed simply with a two-thirds vote of Congress followed by the ratification of three-fourths of the States

***President Lincoln symbolically signed the 13th amendment to show his strong support in ending slavery 

-the vote was taken in Congress on the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery was packed wall to wall with observers who cheered as the amendment passed

Pg. 39-42 1st African American to speak in the halls of Congress

-Rev. Henry Highland Garnet was asked to give a sermon in the Capital

***December 4, 1800, Congress authorized that on Sundays, the Capitol building would be used for church service 

-by 1867, the largest church in Washington D.C., was the one at the U.S. Capital

-2,000 people a week met there for church

-On February 12, 1865, Rev. Garnet preached his sermon including his recollection of his personal experiences:

“What is slavery? Too well do I know what it is…..I was born among cherished institutions of slavery. My earliest recollections of parents, friends, and the home of my childhood are clouded with its wrongs. The first sight that met my eyes was my Christin mother enslaved.:”

-Garnet then reviewed the prominent historical leaders of both church and state who strongly opposed slavery

“There is preparing, I hope, under the auspices of heaven, a way for a total emancipation.”

“It is among my first wishes to see some plan adopted by which slavery in this country shall be abolished by law. I know of but one way by which this can be done, and that is by legislative action: and so far as my vote can go, it shall not be wanting.”

“We should transmit to posterity our abhorrence of slavery.”

-Garnet concluded by calling on the States to ratify the Amendment passed by Congress

“Let the verdict of death which has been brought in against slavery by Congress be affirmed and executed by the people. Let the gigantic monster perish. Yes, perish now, and perish forever!...Let slavery die.” 

“I cannot refrain this day from invoking upon you, in God’s name, the blessings of millions who were ready to perish but to whom a new and better life has been opened by your humanity, justice, and patriotism.”

“Speedily finish the work which He has given you to do. Emancipate! Enfranchise! Educate! And give the blessings of the Gospel to every American citizen!”

***Rev. Garnet’s 15th Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. bestowed on their pastor a resolution of thanks 

-the church resolution noted that it was Republican members who asked the Rev. Garnet to preach his sermon 

-Democrats not mentioned because of their attitude toward blacks at the time

-Democrats do not support spoken prayer, displays of the Ten Commandments, or display of the constitution in public schools

***Democrats opposed any traditional public religious expressions and activities still demonstrated today 

Pg. 43 1954

IRS:

-Democrat Lyndon Baines Johnson has the IRS code amended to restrict speech in churches

-only 5% of Democrats voted to allow free speech for churches

-76% Republicans voted for free speech for churches 

Marriage:

-6% Democrats voted to protect that God-ordained institution say between a man and a woman

-88% Republicans voted to protect marriage between a man and a woman

John Rock 

-Republican Senator Charles Sumner  nominated Rock as the 1st U.S. Supreme Court Attorney  to Congress

-Rock was both a licensed doctor and a licensed dentist

-Rock was the 1st black American to become a member of the U.S. Supreme Court bar

-Rock was introduced before the U.S. House

-Rock became the 1st African American attorney to be introduced to Congress

***because of the 13th Amendment and the end of slavery, black Americans in the South could now enjoy their first real taste of civil rights

-within a year, blacks were registering to vote and were forming political parties across the South 

Ex. rally in Houston, Texas, on July 4th, 1867, 150 blacks and 20 whites formed the Republican party of Texas

-former Rebels who were Democrats were not allowed to vote in their States until they took an oath of loyalty

-they took the oath of allegiance to the United States, and oath to respect the civil rights of black Americans

-Democrats who chose not to take the oath couldn’t vote

Pg. 45 Political Majority

-Republicans became the political majority in most of the southern States

-Republican legislatures moved quickly to protect voting rights of African Americans, prohibit segregation, establish public education, and to open public transportation, State police, schools, and other institutions to black Americans

-nearly every southern legislature included many black legislators

Louisiana:

-first 95  black representatives

-first 32 black senators were Republicans

Texas:

-first 42 black Republicans elected to the State legislature 

Alabama:

-first 103 blacks elected to the State legislature were Republicans

Mississippi:

-first 112 blacks elected to the State legislature were Republicans

South Carolina:

-first 190 blacks elected to the State legislature were Republicans

Virginia:

-first 46 blacks elected to the State legislature were Republicans

Florida:

-first 30 blacks elected to the State legislature were Republicans

North Carolina:

-first 30 blacks elected to the State legislature were Republicans

Setting the Record Straight: American History in Black & White by David Barton; pages Pg. 28-34

 Pg. 28  1862: 

-Republicans abolished slavery in Washington D.C.

In 1863:

-the Emancipation Proclamation was issued freeing all slaves in the southern States in rebellion

-many black Americans gathered in groups eagerly awaiting for its arrival on midnight of December 31, 1862

-The Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863

-Fredrick Douglas was in attendance at one of the rallies and once passed he exclaimed:

“It was one of the most affecting and thrilling occasions I ever witnessed, and a worthy celebration of the first step on the part of the nation in its departure from the thralldom (bondage) of the ages.” 

Pg. 29 1864:

-following the Emancipation Proclamation, several civil rights laws were passed by Republicans

Freedmen’s Bureau Bill:

-equalized pay for soldiers in the military, whether black or white

-the fugitive slave Law was repealed even with the unanimous opposition by the northern Democrats still in Congress

-Republicans worked to end slavery and secure civil rights

-the new nation of southern Democrats was determined to head in the opposite direction

-Confederate Vice-President Alexander Stephens (Democrat from Georgia) delivered an 1861 speech entitled: “African Slavery: The Corner-Stone of the Southern Confederacy”

-Stephens acknowledged that the Founding Fathers, even those in the South had NEVER intended for slavery to remain in America 

***Thomas Jefferson and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old Constitution were that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature

-that it was wrong in principle: socially, morally, and politically

–it was an evil they knew not well how to deal with, but the general opinion of the men of that day was the institution of slavery would pass away

Pg. 30 Vice-President Stephens

-expressed his view and that of the new Confederate nation about the anti-slavery ideas of the Founding Fathers

“Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an error.”

“Our new government, the confederate States of America, is founded upon exactly the opposite idea–the great truth that the Negro is NOT equal to the white man. That slavery–subordination to the superior (white) race is his natural and moral condition. The new Confederate government is the great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.”

Truth:

-there is a clear difference between the philosophy of Republicans and Democrats

-polkar opposites on the issue of race and racial equality

-Southern Democrats had been willing to form an entire nation on the foundation of white supremacy

-the south was strongly Democratic

Pg. 31 1871: Congressional hearing:

-South Carolina Democrat:

“Almost nine hundred and ninety-nine out of every thousand of the decent people of South Carolina belong to the Democratic party;...the Republican Party is composed entirely of the colored people.”

1864 reminders: Republican President vs. Democratic military general 

-southern Democrats were still fighting against the Union

-the presidential candidate for the Democrats that year was a Northern Democrat named Union General George B. McClellan

-McClellan was running against his own commander-in-chief

“Our bloody civil war has now lasted nearly four years under the mismanagement of Abraham Lincoln. Nearly one million white men have been sacrificed.”

“He (Lincoln) has declared his intention to convert it (the Civil War) into a war for forcible abolition and Negro equality, social and political.”

-McClellan ran on electing him he would stop white lives being lost and keep slavery in place

-Abraham Lincoln had tried twice to replace him for failing to obey Lincoln’s orders to launch aggressive attacks against the Confederacy

-the Democratic Union General held opinions about slavery and blacks that were in agreement with the Democrats of the South whom he was fighting

Ex. when southern slaves escaped from their masters and fled to his Union troops for protection, General McClellan, refused to receive those black refugees and ordered them returned to their Southern slave masters from whom they escaped 

-McClellan’s pre-southern sympathetic behavior  was in direct contrast with the other northern military leaders

Col. Fletcher Webster

-son of anti-slavery statesman Daniel Webster

-organized the 12th Massachusetts who adopted the popular abolitionist Anthem “John Brown’s Body” as its regimental song

-that unit saw some of fiercest action in the War

-Fletcher Webster gave his life in the fight against slavery being shot down at the Second Battle of Bull Run

Pg. 33 Republican Frederick Douglas:

“We have the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1863. It was a vast and glorious step in the right direction. But unhappily, excellent as that paper is - and much as it has accomplished temporarily - it settles nothing. It is still open to decision by courts, canons (agency interpretations), and Congress.”

-understanding that something was needed that was more far reaching than just the Emancipation Proclamation or the various civil rights laws

***there needed a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery completely

-the Republican Congress worked on this constitutional amendment

-Abraham Lincoln won re-election to a second term 

Pg. 34 1865: Civil War finally came to a close

-the slaveholding States had been defeated

-President Lincoln and the black troops of the 29th Connecticut Regiment visited Richmond, the former capital of the Confederate States of America

-An officer in that black regiment recorded the scene:

“Thank God for His goodness; we have seen His salvation.”

-colored people waved their handkerchiefs, hats, and bonnets expressing their gratitude by shouting 

-the white soldiers cheered along with them

-a woman shouted, “Thank you, dear Jesus, for the is sight of the great conqueror.”

-Lincoln was seen with tears in his eyes as he looked out at the sea of colored people who were once slaves

-Lincoln heard the blessings uttered from thankful hearts and thanksgiving to God and Jesus

-thousands of colored men in Richmond would have laid down their lives for President Lincoln 

Setting the Record Straight: American History in Black & White by David Barton; pages Pg. 22-27

 Pg. 22 1856: Republican’s Party’s 1st Presidential election 

-Republican: John C. Fremont

-Democrat: James Buchanan

-the party put out its first-ever party platform

***6 of the 9 planks set forth bold declarations of equality and civil rights for African Americans based on the principles of the Declaration of Independence 

Pg. 23 -the Democratic platform took the opposite position, strongly defending slavery 

“All efforts of the abolitionists…are calculated to lead to the most alarming and dangerous consequences and all such efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness of the people.”

Democrats 1856:

-ending slavery would not only be dangerous but would also ruin the happiness of the people

-the Republicans lost the election

1857:

-Democrats controlled the Supreme Court

-the Supreme Court delivered the Dred Scott decision

-it declared blacks were not persons or citizens but instead were property and therefore had no rights

- Democrats on the Court announced:

That blacks “had no rights which the white man was bound to respect; and that the Negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit.”

1860: Presidential election

-Republican Abraham Lincoln

-Democratic U.S. Senate Stephen Douglas of Illinois

-Democratic platform: supported both the Fugitive Law and the Dred Scott decisions

-Democrats handed out copies of the Dred Scott decision to affirm their belief that is was proper to have slavery and to hold African Americans in bondage 

-Republican platform: blasted both the Fugitive Law and the Dred Scott decision

-Republican platform: announced its intent to end slavery and secure equal civil rights for black Americans 

**Note: a century and a half, Democrats often have taken a position that some human life is disposable

-Democrats: a black individual was not a life, it was property so the owner could do with his property as he wished

-Today: Democrats have taken that same position on unborn human life

-unborn humans are disposable to do as one wishes

- African Americans current population is roughly 12 % of the population but is about 35% of the population of all abortions are performed

-Democrats encourage abortions even though the majority of African Americans are pro-life

-In Congress today, Democrats are rabidly pro-abortion and consistently vote against protections for innocent unborn human life 

-Democrats argue that human life is merely dispensable personal property

-black Americans has suffered under this philosophy 

Pg. 25 1860 presidential election

-there was a split in the Democratic Party

-Northern Democrats still approved slavery

-Southern Democrats were willing to split the United States to form their own nation over the issue

-Northern Democrats voted for Stephen Douglas for President

-Southern Democrats voted for John C. Breckenridge

-Republicans voted for Abraham Lincoln so he was elected with only 40% of the popular vote, but 59% of the Electoral college vote

***Republicans also won a majority in the U.S. House and Senate in that election giving control of the lawmaking process for the first time

-anti-slavery and pro-civil rights positions were about to become a reality

-Southern Democrats left Congress and took their States with them forming a nation that described itself as “slaveholding” confederate States of America

-Norther Democrats did not support succession, but still supported slavery and opposed civil rights for black Americans 

**the main difference between southern and northern Democrats as the time was their view on secession NOT slavery 

-many Democrats celebrated Lincoln's election for it had given them the excuse to secede and form their slave holding nation 

Pg. 26 The Knights of the Golden Circle

-an organization composed almost exclusively of Democrats

-before the Civil War, they worked to establish a separate slave nation that included the southern United States, Mexico, and part of Central America

-The War Between the States/The Great Rebellion (Civil War) broke out

-Democrats narrowed their broad goals to focus on making the Confederate States of America as a separate slave nation

Leaders of this new nations of slave holding state:

-Democratic U.S. Senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi resigned from the Senate to became President of this e new slaveholding nations

-Democratic Representative Alexander Stephens of Georgia resigned from the House to become Vice=President

-the citizens of this new slaveholding nation became known as “Rebels” since they were in rebellion against the United States 

-not every southern Rebel was a slaveholder or supported slavery

-defenders of the southern Confederacy in their misguided efforts to prove slavery was not the primary issue during the Civil War asserted that only 5% of Southerners owned slaves

-misleading data that only 5% of Southerners owned slaves by have a hint of truth it matters that 19% of Southerners lived in households that owned slaves 

Ex. South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, etc….had half of their population were slaves

-southern States, ⅔ were either slaves or lived in a slave household, or owned slaves

-southern States, ⅓ made a living by supplying materials or services to the slave homes or plantations

**assertion that only 5% of Southerners may have owned slaves does not diminish the fact that slavery was THE dominant industry in the southern States

-succession documents of the States that left the Union proved it was all about slavery

***slavery was THE primary distinction between the North and the South, Rebels therefore were fighting for the existence of a slaveholding nation

States Rights:

-the cry of the southern States before the Civil War

-they wanted the right of States to make their own decisions about slavery

-they also wanted the right of States to make their own decisions about whether or not to recognize civil rights for black Americans

***”States Rights” became a euphemism first for holding blacks in slavery and then for subjecting them to Black Codes, segregation, and institutional discrimination

In 1860:

-Republicans had firmly control of the federal government