October 5, 1866
Foster, Lafayette Sabine, 1806-1880
Autograph letter signed
Title: to Mr. Wakeman
Foster, a U.S. senator from Connecticut, discusses his views on reconstruction with Wakeman, a lawyer. Foster says that he would restrict the right to vote to those with "capacity and virtue," but that it would be "arbitrary, unjust, and tyrannical to make any discriminations…on account of color…" Writing extensively about the rights, especially voting rights, of the "negro," he states "There is no more sense in talking of a man's natural right to vote, than there is in talking of his natural right to be the Chief Justice, or the President of the United States…It is dangerous to commit so…
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