|
on slavery |
1846: "The people of Mexico are a very different race of people
from ours. The better class
are very proud and tyrinize over the lower and much more numerous class
as much as a hard master does over his negroes, and they
submit to it quite humbly." (Simon,
v1, p97)
1858: Speaking of a slave his father-in-law gave to his wife:
"He is a very smart, active boy, capable of making anything... I
can leave him here and get about three dollars per month for him now, and
more as he gets older."(Simon,
v1. p344)
1878: "As soon as
slavery fired upon the flag it was felt, we all felt, even those who did
not object to slaves, that slavery must be destroyed. We felt that
it was a stain to the Union that men should be bought and sold like cattle."
(Grant, 1969, p367)
1885: "The cause of the great war of the rebellion against the
United States will have to
be attributed to slavery... Slavery was an institution that required
unusual guaranties for its security wherever it existed; and in a country
like ours, where the larger portion of it was free territory inhabited
by an intelligent and well-to-do population, the people would naturally
have but little sympathy with demands upon them for its protection.
Hence the people of the South were dependent upon keeping control of the
general government to secure the perpetuation of their
favorite institution." (Grant,
1885, v2, p386)
1885: "(Before the Civil War) many educated and
otherwise sensible persons appeared to believe that emancipation meant
social equality. (In
1860) the Republican party was successful in electing its candidate
to the Presidency. The
civilized world has learned the consequence. Four millions of human
beings held as chattels have been liberated; the ballot has been given
to them; the free schools of the country have been opened to their
children. The nation still
lives, and the people are just as free to avoid social intimacy with the
blacks as ever they were, or as they are with white people." (Grant,
1885, v1, 170-1)
1885: "There were people (before the CW) who believed in the 'divinity' of human slavery, as there are now people who believe Mormonism and polygamy to be ordained by the Most High. We forgive them for entertaining such notions, but forbid their practice." (Grant, 1885, v1, p173)
1885: "The fact is, the Southern slave-owners believed that,
in some way, the ownership of slaves conferred a sort of patent of nobility
-- a right to govern independent of the interest or wishes of those who
did not hold such
property. They convinced themselves, first, of the divine origin
of the institution, and, next, that that particular institution was not
safe in the hands of any body of legislators but themselves." (Grant,
1885, v1, p 180)
1885: "The (South) was burdened with an institution
abhorrent to all civilized people not brought up under it, and one which
degraded labor, kept it in ignorance and enervated the governing class...
Soon the slaves would
have outnumbered the masters, and, not being in sympathy with them,
would have risen in their might and exterminated them. The war was
expensive to the South, as well as to the North, both in blood and treasure,
but it was worth all it cost." (Grant,
1885, v1, p507-8)
Return
to home
page