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FOR HISTORICAL CLARITY
Even at this late date, the shroud of mystery surrounding Springfield Negroes has not been removed by Lincoln historians. They have either overlooked or failed to examine what meager primary evidence does exist. Instead, most have relied upon secondary sources, predecessor historians who often recorded incomplete or incorrect information or were silent about the presence of Negroes in Lincoln's Springfield.
Nineteenth-century Springfield historians probably judged Negroes as unimportant when recording the people and events of Springfield, an attitude that reflected the time and bore a conscious or unconscious prejudice toward Negroes as a class or race. Contemporary historians who have relied upon these earlier chroniclers have unintentionally mythologized and romanticized Lincoln and Springfield, painting a city almost devoid of color. That flawed history is based upon four myths:
When I write about the INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, I follow this historical terminology:
- The use of old commonly used terms, disrespectful today, i.e., REDMAN or REDMEN, SAVAGES, and HALF-BREED are explained in this article.
Writing about AFRICAN-AMERICAN history, I follow these race terms:
- "NEGRO" was the term used until the mid-1960s.
- "BLACK" started being used in the mid-1960s.
- "AFRICAN-AMERICAN" [Afro-American] began usage in the late 1980s.
— PLEASE PRACTICE HISTORICISM —
THE INTERPRETATION OF THE PAST IN ITS OWN CONTEXT.
Negroes were a significant part of Abraham Lincoln's Springfield community. At the time of his arrival in 1837, Springfield had a Negro population of twenty-six, about one percent of the total population of 1,500.
Six of those twenty-six were slaves. By the time of Lincoln's departure in
1861, the population had grown to 234, about 5 percent of the total
population of approximately 5,000. These few Springfield Negroes had an impact
on Lincoln that was far greater than their numbers imply.
Nevertheless, the presence of Negroes in early Springfield
and their relationships with and influence on Lincoln have been largely ignored
or minimized by historians. Why?
 |
| This daguerreotype photograph is the earliest confirmed picture of Abraham Lincoln, reportedly shot in 1846 by Nicholas H. Shepherd shortly after Lincoln was elected to the United States House of Representatives. |
The simple answer is that most Negroes, as well as whites, were
illiterate and therefore left little personal written evidence of their
existence. As one Springfield Negro historian put it more than 90 years ago: “The
history of the colored people of Sangamon County, like the sources of the
common law, is shrouded in some mystery. The writer is confronted with an
embarrassing lack of available data and must draw his material from the
memories of such of the older settlers as remain and, to a still larger extent,
from their descendants.”
Even at this late date, the shroud of mystery surrounding Springfield Negroes has not been removed by Lincoln historians. They have either overlooked or failed to examine what meager primary evidence does exist. Instead, most have relied upon secondary sources, predecessor historians who often recorded incomplete or incorrect information or were silent about the presence of Negroes in Lincoln's Springfield.
Nineteenth-century Springfield historians probably judged Negroes as unimportant when recording the people and events of Springfield, an attitude that reflected the time and bore a conscious or unconscious prejudice toward Negroes as a class or race. Contemporary historians who have relied upon these earlier chroniclers have unintentionally mythologized and romanticized Lincoln and Springfield, painting a city almost devoid of color. That flawed history is based upon four myths:
THE FIRST MYTH: William Fleurville, who arrived in
Springfield in 1831, was Springfield's first Negro resident and Lincoln's sole Negro personal acquaintance prior to his becoming President.
THE SECOND MYTH: Neither Negro slavery nor indentured
servitude existed in Lincoln's Springfield.
THE THIRD MYTH: Prior to becoming President, Lincoln knew
little of Negro life.
THE FOURTH MYTH: Springfield Negroes were passive servants
and menials and either incapable of or not interested in speaking out on issues
of colonization or racial justice.
To understand the influence of Springfield Negroes on the
political and social education of the pre-presidential Lincoln, we must first
debunk these myths.
THE MYTH OF THE HAITIAN BARBER
The first myth is the incorrect focus on William Fleurville
as Springfield's first Negro resident and as Lincoln's exclusive Springfield Negro personal acquaintance. He was neither.
Fleurville arrived in Springfield in the fall of 1831,
thirteen years after the arrival of at least thirty-two Negro predecessors. He
was not Springfield's first Negro resident.
Mark Neely's Lincoln Encyclopedia compared Lincoln's Negro "personal acquaintances" in Springfield vs. Washington, D.C., and concluded that Lincoln's personal acquaintance" with Negroes increased when he moved from Springfield to Washington. To support his conclusion, Neely named one Springfield Negro, William Fleurville, and three Washington Negroes who were servants at the White House as examples of Lincoln's "personal acquaintances." True, Fleurville was a personal acquaintance of Lincoln, but Lincoln's Springfield Negro acquaintances during his twenty-four-year residency included others who were at least as well known to the future president as were those Negro White House servants cited by Neely.
These may seem to be trivial points of contention, and they
would be if the sole point were competition over the claim to
"first-ness" or "personal acquaintanceship." But they have
greater significance. Historical acceptance of Fleurville as the city's first Negro and Lincoln's only Negro friend in Springfield has made it unnecessary for
historians to look for evidence of the presence of other Negroes in Springfield
either prior to 1831, the date of Fleurville's arrival or after Lincoln's
arrival in 1837. Fleurville has become the historian's token ante-bellum[1],
Springfield Negroes, whereas other Negroes have remained largely faceless and
nameless. As a result, an important component of Lincoln's Springfield
environment has been ignored.
THE MYTH OF A “FREE” SPRINGFIELD
The second myth is that Negro slavery and indentured
servitude didn't exist in Lincoln's Springfield. W. T. Casey, a Springfield Negro,
made this erroneous assertion in his 1926 History of the Colored People. However, slavery and indentured servitude existed in Springfield, both before and during
Lincoln's residency.
Henry Kelly, the patriarch of the first family to settle at
what became Springfield, brought at least one slave with him: "Negro
Jack." On March 18, 1822, Henry and his wife, Mary, sold eight-year-old
Negro Jack for $300. Jack was probably Springfield's first Negro resident and
slave.
Two of the four original proprietors of the town of
Springfield, John Taylor and Thomas Cox, owned Negro slaves while living in
Springfield. Cox, who moved to Springfield in 1823 to become the first
Registrar of the Land Office, owned at least two female slaves, Nance and Dice,
and most probably a young male slave, Reuben. Nance and Dice were sold by the
Sheriff of Sangamon County at a public auction in 1827 in order to satisfy Cox's
debts. Later, Nance would be the subject of two Illinois Supreme Court cases
involving the issue of slavery and the ownership of slaves by Illinois
residents. One of the cases, Bailey vs. Cromwell, was argued by Lincoln.
In 1827 the Sangamon County Commissioners' Court levied a
tax "on slaves and indentures or registered Negro or mulatto
servants," which offers evidence that Springfield slaves were considered
personal property."
The 1830 census, the last taken before Lincoln's arrival, listed Negroes in two categories: "free colored" and
"slaves." The Springfield portion of the census lists nineteen Negroes,
nine of whom were categorized as "slaves" under the names of their
masters: John Taylor is listed as owning three slaves. Dr. John Todd, Mary
Lincoln's uncle, is listed as owning five slaves. Temperance Watson, who lived
on the land where Oak Ridge Cemetery is now situated, is listed as owning one
slave.
The evidence is clear that slavery was still a part of
Springfield's life at the time of Lincoln's arrival in 1837. It continued for
some time thereafter. The 1840 census revealed that Springfield's population of
2,579 included 115 Negroes, about 4.4 percent of the total population. Six were
"slaves," and the remaining 109 were "free colored." Lincoln
knew and had significant personal contacts with at least three of the slave
owners, James Bell, Ninian Edwards, and William May. James Bell, listed as
owning one young female slave, was a member of the trading firm of James Bell
and Joshua Speed. Lincoln represented Bell in at least three legal cases, one
each in 1838, 1839, and 1842.
Ninian Edwards, Mary Lincoln’s brother-in-law, was listed as
owning one young male slave.
William May was listed as owning one young female slave. May
had emigrated from Kentucky to Springfield around 1829 when he was appointed
the third Registrar of the Springfield Land Office. He was a lawyer and a
partner of Stephen T. Logan. He was also a surveyor and a minister. He was the
first County Clerk/Recorder of Sangamon County. From 1834 to 1839, May was a
Congressman for whom Lincoln voted on October 27, 1834. In 1842, May was
elected mayor of Springfield.
Slavery did exist in Lincoln’s Springfield, and Lincoln was
aware of its existence.
As an adjunct to slavery, a system of voluntary or
indentured servitude flourished in Springfield both prior to and after
Lincoln's arrival. The system was legally permitted by the "Black
Laws" adopted by Illinois' first legislature in 1819 and existed until
February 7, 1865. Legally, an indenture is a contract. Indentured servitude was
evidenced by a written contract between two persons providing that one person
was to perform services for another person for a given period.
"Voluntary or indentured servitude" became a euphemism for Illinois
slavery, and it is often difficult to distinguish between the status of a Negro characterized as a slave and one characterized as an indentured servant.
Many of Lincoln's Springfield friends and acquaintances,
including his in-laws, the Edwards and Todds, participated in the indenture
system. This author has found seven Springfield written contracts of service indentures
dated during the period from 1835 to 1845. The earliest, twenty-six-year-old
Ninian Edwards, then a new resident of Springfield, and Hepsey, an
eleven-year-old mulatto orphan girl. The terms of Hepsey's indenture were
typical, providing that she was "...to learn the art and mystery of
domestic housewifery and serve Edwards until the age of eighteen." In turn,
Edwards was to provide Hepsey with sufficient meat, drink, washing, lodging, proper apparel for such an apprentice, and needful medical
attention. He was to "cause her to read," at the end of her term, he was to give her a new Bible and two new suits of suitable and proper
for summer and winter wear.
Hepsey’s indenture was in force on the evening of November
4, 1842, when Reverend Charles Dresser performed the marriage of Mary Todd and
Abraham Lincoln in the Edwards' home at the southwest corner of Charles and
Second Streets. Hepsey was probably present in the household at the time of
their marriage.
Dr. John Todd, Mary Lincoln's uncle, had both a slave and an
indentured servant. On April 18, 1836, he entered into an indenture with
Elizabeth, an eight-year-old Negro girl, with the consent of her mother,
Phoebe, one of Todd’s slaves.
In April of 1838, Reverend Charles Dresser moved to
Springfield to become Rector of the Episcopal Church. Dresser was a New
Englander born in Pomfret, Connecticut, in 1800. He graduated from Brown
University in 1823.
A month after Dresser's arrival in Springfield, he entered
into an indenture for the domestic labor of Rhoda Jane, a fifteen-year-old Negro girl. In the spring of 1839, he purchased a lot at Eighth and Jackson Streets
and constructed a house for his family. Rhoda probably lived in this house. Six
years later, Lincoln purchased the house and moved his family there.
There are four other indentures in the period 1841 to 1843:
Nine-year-old Sidney Mclntry, a mulatto girl, to Nathanial A. Rankin;
eight-year-old Josephine to James F. Owings, Clerk of the United States
District Court at Springfield; sixteen-year-old James to William Hickman, a
justice of the peace who in 1860 lived at the northwest corner of Eighth and
Cook streets, two blocks south of Lincoln's residence; and seventeen-year-old
Elizabeth Jones to Robert Irwin, Lincoln's banker.
Although these indentures are interesting, they provide no
insight into how indentured servants were treated by their masters. One can
glimpse Springfield's mid-Nineteenth-Century community standard for acceptable
discipline of Negro servants, however, from an entry in the May 1843 Session
minutes of the First Presbyterian Church, Mary Lincoln's church.
The Session considered the case of church member Dorothea
Grant, a young, single mother or widow with two young children. Dorothea was
cited for "Unchristian conduct in the treatment of a colored girl bound to
her." She had whipped the girl with a cowhide.
Dorothea defended her conduct by explaining that:
"...She had been in the habit of correcting the girl when she thought her conduct required it, and did not think that she was correcting her any more severely than she had done at other times; she was not aware at the time that any marks were caused on her body by this whipping & can account for it only from its being done with a different instrument from what she had formerly used." (The instrument formerly used is not revealed.)
The Session committee reported that Dorothea
"acknowledged that the whipping was too severe and not accompanied by
that mercy which the Christian should exercise, and she was sincerely sorry for
the reproach she had brought into the church." The Session meeting concluded
with prayer.
The second example of ecclesiastical discipline is that
imposed by the Second Presbyterian Church, sometimes called the abolitionist
church. That church dealt severely with its members who purchased or dealt in
"human beings," as evidenced by the 1843 ex-communication of member
George Day for such activity.
In addition to slaves and indentured servants, there were a
number of free Negroes living in the homes of Springfield white families where
they acted as servants. Edward D. Baker, Richard F. Barrett, Jacob Bunn,
William Butler, John Calhoun, Levi Davis, Benjamin Edwards, William Grimsley,
Virgil Hickox, Lawrason Levering, John A. McClernand, Edmund Roberts, David
Spear, and Samuel H. Treat all had Negro servants living in their homes.
The evidence is clear. The 1830 and 1840 census slave
entries, the indentures, and the ecclesiastical discipline of church members
substantiate that slavery and indentured servitude existed in Lincoln's
Springfield.
THE THIRD MYTH; YOUR OBEDIENT SERVANTS
The third myth is that the Lincoln of 1860 knew little of Negro life. This assertion was made by Benjamin Quarles in his 1962 book Lincoln and
the Negro. Quarles was the first historian to attempt to assess Lincoln's
personal relationship with Negroes, but his conclusions about Lincoln's
relationship with Springfield's Negroes were flawed. After making a cursory review
of Lincoln's twenty-four Springfield years and briefly noting his
relationships with Negroes, Quarles concluded that:
"The Lincoln of 1860 knew the Negro of dialect story, minstrel stage, and sea chantey' and did not have a "rounded knowledge of the colored people." Lincoln "knew little of Negro life" or "John Doe, colored."
Quarles' observations could lead one to incorrectly conclude
that either Springfield's Negroes had little to do with Lincoln or that they
were not representative of Negroes elsewhere in America, the amorphous John Doe,
colored. There is little, if any, evidence to support either conclusion.
As pointed out earlier, some of Lincoln's closest associates
possessed Negro slaves and indentured servants. It is reasonable to conclude
that Lincoln observed, talked to, and knew the slaves and indentured servants
of Ninian Edwards, the Negro slaves of Dr. John Todd, the indentured servants
of Reverend Dresser and Robert Irwin, and the servants in the homes of Edward
D. Baker (for whom the Lincoln's named their second son, Edward Wallace), and
William Butler. The Lincoln household itself was served by Negroes. Two Negro women, "Aunt" Ruth Stanton and Maria Vance, worked in the Lincoln home.
Maria, or "Aunt Maria" as she was called, served as cook, laundress,
and maid for the Lincolns from 1850 to 1860, a longer period than any other
servant who was known to have been employed by the Lincolns either in Springfield or
Washington.
By late Twentieth-Century standards, the Lincolns lived in
an integrated neighborhood. In 1860, at least twenty-one Negroes, about 10 percent
of Springfield's Negro population, lived within a three-block radius of the
Lincoln home.
Jameson Jenkins, a fifty-year-old North Carolina native who
drove Lincoln's carriage from the Chenery House to the Great Western Railroad
Station when Lincoln left Springfield for Washington, was a neighbor, along
with his family of two, and boarders Aunt Jane Pelham, a seventy-five-year-old
I mulatto washerwoman, and Quintan Watkins.
John Jackson, a fifty-two-year-old white washer and Virginia
native, his wife Jenny, and their five children, as well as a lady named Diana
Tyler, were also Lincoln's neighbors. On February 13, 1854, Jenny was received
into membership in the First Presbyterian Church Mary Lincoln's church. David
King, a twenty-six-year-old Virginia native, and his family of five were also
neighbors of the Lincoln family.
Three Negro servant women lived in the homes of their
employers within three blocks of the Lincoln home. Lucy Butcher, a
twenty-six-year-old Virginia native, was a servant in at the residence of Issac
A. Hawley. Rebecca Smith, an eighteen-year-old mulatto, was a servant at the
Jacob Bunn residence. Charlotte Sims was a servant at the John A. McClernand
residence.
Lincoln certainly knew of the day-to-day life of Springfield
slaves, indentured servants, and free Negroes. His experiences and knowledge of
Springfield Negroes were much broader than Quarles' conclusions.
A corollary to the third myth is that Lincoln's observations
of Negroes while visiting friends and relatives in Kentucky and while residing
at the White House were more significant than his observations of and
relationships with Springfield's Negroes during his residency in the capital
city.
Quarles found particular importance in Lincoln's two visits
to Kentucky, one of the twenty-one days in August of 1841 at the Farmington
plantation of his most intimate friend, Joshua F. Speed; and a second of about
twenty-three days in November of 1847 to Mary's family, the Todds, in
Lexington. Quarles speculated that Lincoln viewed the slave pens at Lexington
and asserted that Lincoln was served by Negro servants at the Speed plantation
and saw slavery in operation. Quarles further speculated that the Speeds may have assigned a slave to Lincoln for his personal needs.
Lincoln spent a total of forty-four days making these
Kentucky visits. In contrast, there are 8,698 days in Lincoln's Springfield
years. Quarles, however, made little mention of them and nothing of the
presence of either slaves or indentured servants in Springfield. He speculated
not at all about Lincoln's relationship with Springfield Negroes, who were
certainly more impressionable on Lincoln than the slaves he observed
hypothetically in Kentucky.
THE FOURTH MYTH OF NEGROES ACQUIESCENCE
The fourth myth is that Springfield Negroes were menials and
servants incapable of activism on issues of racial justice. David Donald's
Lincoln, published in 1995, made this claim:
"Of nearly 5,000 inhabitants of Springfield in 1850,
only 171 were Negroes, most of whom labored in menial or domestic
occupations. These were not people who could speak out boldly to say that
they were as American as any whites, that they had no African roots and that
they did not want to leave the United States."
There are at least three examples of Springfield Negro activism that contradict Donald's passive characterization of Springfield Negroes.
The first is that of Springfield Negroes annually celebrating the anniversary of
the 1834 emancipation of 800,000 slaves in the British West Indies. One such
celebration was held on August 2, 1858, and the Springfield Journal reported that "the colored people of our city...celebrated the twenty-fourth anniversary
of the British West Indies emancipation. They formed a procession and marched through the principal streets with music and banners. Then they proceeded
to Kelly's Grove, where they had a number of speeches."
Lincoln was present in Springfield on the date of this
celebration.
The following year on August 1st, a Monday and presumably a
workday, the Journal reported that "They [Springfield Negroes] went out to
the Fairground, where speeches were delivered," and P. L. Donnegan spoke
on "West India Emancipation," and Reverend Myers spoke on
"Sabbath Schools."
"After this, the audience was dismissed till after
refreshment. Seeing everyone take their baskets and retire on the bluegrass to partake in their picnic dinner was amusing. Afterward, the audience was
called on to rally around the stand to hear more speeches… A young man from
Belleville, John W. Menard, Jr., came to the stand. His voice is very strong, and
his manner is impressive. Subject 'American Slavery," which he painted in its
darkest hues, and gave able remarks in defense of Liberty and equality. His
speech was truly the best of the day, after which all retired with hearty
cheers for Menard, Fred [Erick] Douglass, and others."
Lincoln was present in Springfield on this date.
The second example is that of thirty-five-year-old
Springfield barber and Baptist elder Samuel S. Ball, a Negro who, in 1848,
traveled to the African Republic of Liberia. Upon his return, Ball made a
written report of the country's advantages as a place for Negroes to relocate.
The plan of relocation, known as colonization, was considered a possible
solution to the racism and legal discrimination experienced by Illinois Negroes.
Ball's adventure began in August 1847 when he attended the annual meeting of the Colored Baptist Association in Madison County, Illinois.
The Association reviewed reports on the "condition of the Republic of
Liberia favorable to us in America" and resolved to "...send Elder
S.S. Ball to Liberia, as an agent to inquire into the conditions of the
aforesaid country, and to report to this Association on his return, provided
means can be raised and procured to defray his expenses."
In preparation for his visit to Liberia, Ball accepted the mission and obtained a letter of introduction from Illinois Governor August C.
French supported the colonization movement, as did Lincoln at once.
Governor French's letter stated that he had known Mr. Ball for some time and regarded him as a man of strictest integrity and veracity and
"worthy of the encouragement and confidence of all friends of
colonization."
Ball's April 11, 1848 departure from Baltimore for Liberia
was reported by the Springfield Journal: "S.S. Ball, a very respectable
colored man, late of this city, left Baltimore in a schooner on the April 11th
for Liberia, for the purposes of examining that country as an asylum for free Negroes."
Ball arrived in Liberia on May 16, 1848. By August 24, 1848,
he had returned to America, and his homecoming appearance before the annual
meeting of the Colored Baptist Association was reported as follows:
"Friday morning, August 25, intelligence being brought
to the Association of the arrival... of Elder Samuel S. Ball, our missionary to
Africa, whereupon the Association immediately adjourned to receive him... and
conduct him to the preaching stand... Elder Ball responded with much feeling,
after which, with the shaking of hands, many tears were shed for joy, and praises
were offered to God for his kind providence. Saturday at 3 p.m., Elder Ball was appointed to make his report to the Association... After hearing it,
it was ordered printed, and it came out in pamphlet form and was sold to defray
expenses and to remunerate Elder Ball for his services on the trip. Elder Ball
exhibited numerous African curiosities."
Ball's report was published in a thirteen-page pamphlet
entitled Liberia, The Condition and Prospects of that Republic; Made from
Actual Observation. The report is well-organized and well-written, describing Liberia's climate, geography, government, agriculture, and religion. One
cannot read Ball's report without concluding that he was a literate and
sophisticated observer entitled to more than the patronizing characterization
of "servant" or "menial." At the age of thirty-five, this
Virginia-born Negro left his young family and 3,912 fellow Springfield
residents and ventured across the Atlantic to an unknown country for the
purpose of determining if it would be suitable for settlement by Negroes. He was
obviously disturbed by the condition of Negro life and concluded there might be
a better life elsewhere. He took affirmative steps to investigate one
alternative.
Back in Springfield, Ball went about his daily life, which
included earning a living as a barber, cleaner, and bathroom operator, a
Springfield niche for Negro males discovered by Ball and his business
competitor, William Fleurville. Ball's business was located on the south side
of the square and was in close proximity to Lincoln's law office on Sixth and Adams Streets. During the period 1849 through 1851, the Springfield Illinois State
Journal printed a number of advertisements for Ball's barbershop. One such
advertisement on March 28, 1849, stated that his shop would be open at all
times from Monday morning until Saturday night and would have on hand
"Ball's celebrated Restorative, so famous for the restoration of hair, and to prevent."
Ball continued to advocate colonization. In 1851, he spoke
at Springfield and St. Louis, declaring: "I am the warm friend and
enthusiastic admirer of Liberia." He described Liberia as "the
brightest spot on this earth to the colored man. Liberia not only protects the
colored man in the enjoyment of equal rights but... its institutions fostered
merit, developed the moral and intellectual faculties of its citizens and
produced great men."
That same year. Ball drew up a bill for the Illinois State
Legislature proposing that the state provide financial support to free Illinois Negroes wishing to migrate to Liberia. The Springfield Journal supported Ball's
efforts.
On September 16, 1852, at age forty-two, Ball died of
typhoid fever. He left a widow and six children, and real estate valued at
$1,018.59.
THE ANTI-COLONIZATION MOVEMENT
Not all Springfield Negroes favored Ball's colonization
efforts. In fact, Ball's opinion was probably in the minority among his fellow
Springfield Negroes. On February 12, 1858, Lincoln's forty-ninth birthday, the
"colored citizens of Springfield" held a public meeting to protest
the Dred Scott Decision and to express opposition to the colonization movement.
The meeting was prompted by the Illinois State Colonization
Society's request of the State Legislature for money to assist in the
resettlement of Negroes to Africa and the representation that "some of the
most intelligent and enterprising of the people of color in the State of
Illinois desire the assistance of the Colonization Society, to enable them to
remove to Liberia or some other part of Africa."
Landen C. Coleman, a twenty-eight-year-old Springfield Negro shoemaker, acted as chairman of the meeting that, by its existence and adoption
of a Forman resolution, contradicts Donald's assertion that Springfield Negroes "...were not people who could speak out boldly to say that they were as
American as any whites, that they had no African roots, and that they did not want
to leave the United States." While the entire resolution deserves study,
in the interest of space, I will quote only a portion:
“After careful inquiry, we have been unable to ascertain that any intelligent man of color either desires to Africa or requires aid for such an enterprise.
"We have no desire to exchange the broad prairies, fertile soil, healthful climate, and Christian civilization of Illinois, for the dangerous navigation of the wide ocean, the tangled forests, savage beasts, heathen people, and miasmatic shores of Africa.""We believe that the operations of the Colonization Society is calculated to excite prejudices against us and to impel ignorant or ill-disposed persons to take measures for our expulsion from the land of our nativity, from our country and from our homes.""We do for ourselves, and in behalf of our colored brethren throughout the United States, most earnestly protest against the recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Dred Scott, not only because... Scott and his family were by that decision most unjustly doomed to slavery, but also because the... decision misrepresents the greater charter of American liberty, the Declaration of Independence, and the spirit of the American people, as well as the Constitution of the United States.""We take the Declaration as the Gospel of freedom; we believe in its great truth, 'that all men are created equal, endowed with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' We know ourselves to be men, and we claim our rights as such under this '...The declaration' of the Old Thirteen [colonies]. We also claim the right of citizenship in this, the country of our birth. We were born here, and where we desire to die and to be buried. We are not African. The best blood of Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and other State, where our brethren are still held in bondage by their brothers, flows in our veins. We are not, therefore, aliens, either in blood or in race, to the people of the country in which we were born. Why then should we be disenfranchised and denied the rights of citizenship in the north, and those of human nature itself in the south?"
There is no hard evidence to link Lincoln to these three
examples of Springfield's Negro activism. But Lincoln's Springfield was a small
town. Did these activities influence Lincoln? If he was influenced by brief
glimpses of slavery on visits to Kentucky, as Quarles asserted, then without
question, the influences of Springfield s Negro population engaged in the daily
routine of life during Lincoln's residency were even more significant.
In reaching conclusions about Negroes in Lincoln's
Springfield, contemporary Lincoln historians have largely relied upon secondary
sources and have thereby unknowingly acquiesced in the omissions and prejudices
of the past. Each generation of Lincoln historians has repeated and thereby
perpetuated the myth, giving us an incomplete picture of Lincoln's Springfield.
It is time to put these myths aside. Historians should take
a fresh look at Lincoln and reconsider some equally entrenched views about the
origins, nature, and evolution of his mature views on race, slavery,
colonization, abolitionism, emancipation, and Negro civil rights. Only then
will we have a true picture of the significance of Negroes as part of Lincoln's
Springfield community.
Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.
Illinois State Library
Illinois State Library
[1] Antebellum: occurring or existing before the Civil War.
