Excerpt from The Equal Rights of All I. Necessity is a peremptory instructor. Gives the law which no man can disregard. It will not hearken to apology or postpone ment. With a voice of command it insists that its behests shall be obeyed. And now this very necessity speaks to us with familiar tones. Twice already, since rebel Slavery rose against the Republic, it has spoken to us, insisting; first, that the slaves should be declared free; and secondly, that muskets should be put into their hands for the common defense. Yield ing to necessity, these two things were done. Reason, humanity, justice were powerless in this behalf; but necessity was irresistible. And the result testifies how wisely the Republic acted. Without emancipation, followed by the arming of the slaves, rebel Slavery would not have been overcome. With these the victory was easy. At last the same necessity, which insisted first upon emancipation and then upon the arming of the slaves, insists with the same unanswer able force upon the admission of the freedman to complete Equality before the law, so that there shall be no ban of color in court-room, or at the ballot-box, and government shall be fixed on its only rightful foundation - the con sent of the governed. Reason, humanity, and justice, all of which are clear for this admission of the freedman, may fail to move you; but you must yield to necessity, which now requires that these promises shall be performed. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.