Gibson, Tobias, fl. 1861-1865 to Captain J. W. Francis
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04501.099 Author/Creator: Gibson, Tobias, fl. 1861-1865 Place Written: Oak Forest, [LA] Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 20 August 1867 Pagination: 3 p. : docket ; 25 x 19.5 cm. Order a Copy
A passionate letter in which Tobias refuses to comply with General Sheridan's orders to act as a commissioner of elections. He claims that supporters of negro voting rights are violating the U.S. Constitution, which he believes supports a "white mans government." He argues that social peace either excludes suffrage for blacks or severely restricts it. He fears giving political power to Black people and that white people would become inferior. "I must respectfully decline to change all my school boy lessons & to adopt a faith which Consigns the land of Washington & Jefferson [3] of Jackson Clay and Calhoun to the [illegible]tion darkness of the primitive ages with African Chiefs and African Statesmen [strikeout] to be installed in their places ..."
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