Page:The rising son, or, The antecedents and advancement of the colored race (IA risingsonthe00browrich).pdf/428

 in the declaration which was made by that Legislature, that a man having more than one-eighth of African blood in his veins was ineligible to office.

These very men to whom the Republican party extended all the rights and privileges of citizenship, of which they had deprived themselves, denied political equality to a large majority of their fellow-citizens. Twenty-eight members were expelled on December 22, 1869; an Act of Congress was passed requiring the re-assembling of the persons declared elected by the military commander, the restoration of the expelled members, and the rejection of others, who were disqualified.

The expulsion of the ex-rebels from the Georgia Legislature, and the admission of the loyal colored men, whose seats had been forcibly taken from them, had a good effect upon all the Southern States, for it showed that the national administration was determined that justice should be done.

The prompt admission of Hiram R. Revels to a seat in the United States Senate from Mississippi, showed that progress was the watch-word of the Republican party. The appointments of E. D. Bassett as Minister to Hayti, and J. Milton Turner as Consul-General to Liberia, set at rest all doubt with regard to the views of President Grant, and the negro's political equality.

In 1869, colored men, for the first time in the history of the District of Columbia, were drawn as jurors, and served with white men. This was the crowning event of that glorious emancipation which began at the capital, and radiated throughout the length and breadth of the nation. Since then, one by one, distinguishing lines have been erased, and now the black man is