No country was so well studied by them as Hayti, and
from 1824 to 1860 there had been considerable emigration thither.
Liberia, Central and South America and Canada were all considered
under the thought of emigration. Thousands went to Hayti and to
Canada, but the bulk preferred to remain here. They liked America, and
had become so thoroughly in love with the doctrines of the Republic,
so imbued with the pride of the nation's history, so inspired with
hope in the nation's future, that they resolved to live and die on her
soil. When the troublous times of 1860 came and white men were fleeing
to Canada, colored men remained at their posts. They were ready to
stand by the old flag and to take up arms for the Union, trusting that
before the close of the strife the flag might have to them a new
meaning. An impassioned colored orator had said of the flag: "Its
stars were for the white man, and its stripes for the Negro, and it
was very appropriate that the stripes should be red." The free Negro
of the North was prepared in 1861 to support Abraham Lincoln with
40,000 as good American-born champions for universal liberty as the
country could present.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Slave Trade--Carey.
[2] Outlines--Tanner.
[3] A.M.E. Magazine, 1843.
[4] It is to be noted that in Maryland and Virginia an important
number of white serving women married Negro slave men in the early
days of these colonies.
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