The hero and the warrior, have long been estimated, the favorite sons of
a favored people.
In the Convention for the formation of the national compact, when the
question arose on the priority of citizen's rights, an honorable
member--Mr. Jefferson, if we mistake not--arose and stated, that for the
purpose of henceforward settling a question of such moment to the
American people, that nativity of birth, and the descendants of all who
had borne arms in their country's struggle for liberty, should be always
entitled to all the rights and privileges to which an American citizen
could be eligible. This at once, enfranchised the native citizen, and
the posterity of all those at the time, who may have been so fortunate
as to have been born on the American continent. The question was at once
settled, as regards American citizenship. And if we establish our right
of equal claims to citizenship with other American people, we shall have
done all that is desirable in this view of our position in the country.
But if in addition to this, we shall be able to prove, that colored men,
not only took part in the great scene of the first act for independence,
but that they were the actors--a colored man was really the hero in the
great drama, and actually the first victim in the revolutionary
tragedy--then indeed, shall we have more than succeeded, and have reared
a monument of fame to the history of our deeds, more lasting than the
pile that stands on Bunker Hill.
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