He saw that as a class, the colored people of the country were
ignorant, degraded and oppressed, by far the greater portion of them
being abject slaves in the South, the very condition of whom was almost
enough, under the circumstances, to blast the remotest hope of success,
and those who were freemen, whether in the South or North, occupied a
subservient, servile, and menial position, considering it a favor to get
into the service of the whites, and do their degrading offices. That the
difference between the whites and themselves, consisted in the superior
advantages of the one over the other, in point of attainments. That if a
knowledge of the arts and sciences, the mechanical occupations, the
industrial occupations, as farming, commerce, and all the various
business enterprises, and learned professions were necessary for the
superior position occupied by their rulers, it was also necessary for
them. And very reasonably too, the first suggestion which occurred to
them was, the advantages of a location, then the necessity of a
qualification. They reasoned with themselves, that all distinctive
differences made among men on account of their origin, is wicked,
unrighteous, and cruel, and never shall receive countenance in any shape
from us, therefore, the first acts of the measure entered into by them,
was to protest, solemnly protest, against every unjust measure and
policy in the country, having for its object the proscription of the
colored people, whether state, national, municipal, social, civil, or
religious.
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