Speech by Hon. John Sherman, of Ohio, on Emancipation as a Compensation for Military Service Rendered by Slaves
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| Hersteller: | Forgotten Books (Sherman, John) |
| Stand: | 2015-08-04 03:50:33 |
Produktbeschreibung
Excerpt from Speech by Hon. John Sherman, of Ohio, on Emancipation as a Compensation for Military Service Rendered by Slaves: Delivered in the Senate of the United States, February 2, 1864 The Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, having under consideration the bill (S. No. 41) to promote enlistments in the Army of the United States, and for other purposes - Mr. Sherman said: Mr. President, the bill now before the Senate presents not only the question of the employment of negroes in the military service of the United States, but also the question of the emancipation of the whole negro race in this country. The second section of the bill provides that all persons of African descent who have been or may hereafter be employed in the military or naval service shall receive the same uniform, pay, arms, and equipments as other soldiers of the regular or volunteer forces of the United States other than bounty. The third section provides that "when any person of African descent, whose service or labor is claimed in any State under the laws thereof, shall be mustered into the military or naval service of the United States, he, his mother, his wife, and children, shall forever thereafter be free." It is manifest that if a slave is employed in the military service, the inevitable result of that employment is emancipation. It would appear to be just, when a slave renders military service and exposes his life in a civil war like this, that it should inure to the benefit of his wife, his mother, and his children. It is equally clear that if by the laws of war all slaves who enter into the military service in the southern States, and all who are connected with them by the ties of blood, shall be emancipated, the tenure of slavery in this country would become so uncertain as to result in universal emancipation. I will, therefore, treat this proposition according to its logical effect, and as involving the emancipation of the negro race in this country. Effect of Military Service by a Slave. Has Congress or the President power to employ slaves in the military service? Can we emancipate them, either as a punishment of rebels or as a reward for military service? If these powers exist, to what extent and in what way should we exercise them? These questions present the most difficult problem of the war, which requires in its solution more than human wisdom. I certainly would not engage in the discussion did not the responsibility of my position require me to meet them as practical questions of legislation. For many years this Senate Chamber has rung with angry discussions on the slavery question. The most eloquent, the most gifted, the wise, the learned, each and all of the great names that have adorned American history in Convention and in either House of Congress, have expended their eloquence, their learning, all the artillery of excited debate on the slavery question as it affected a single slave or an unpopulated Territory. It devolves upon us now to pass upon a guarantee, a pledge, which if made, honor and public faith will never hereafter allow the nation to withdraw; and which, if redeemed, will directly emancipate a majority of the slaves in this country, and in its logical consequence within a short time will make every human being within our limits free, unless he forfeits his freedom by his crime. In the discussion of such a question it becomes vital that we carefully examine our powers. The race whose military service we require has yielded forced labor, unrequited toil, to ours for generations. If we induce them to incur the risk of death and wounds in war upon the promise of emancipation, and do not redeem that promise, we add perfidy to wrong. The soldier who has worn our uniform and served under our flag must not hereafter labor as a slave. Nor would it be tolerable that his wife, his mother, or his child should be the property
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