Oldal 147 [147]
THE COLORED AMERICAN AND THE CANADIAN REBELLIONS
Reform Society for including both blacks and whites as members. It criticized
fellow Blacks for alleged shortcomings. Such stances alienated both subscrib¬
ers and patrons. By 1842, it had folded. Ihough short-lived, it set a high bar
for later Black newspapers.
As is evident throughout the pages of The Colored American, Blacks saw
the Declaration as the expression of principles whose fulfillment, though in
the 1830s still wanting, was tantalizingly possible. That is, if only white Amer¬
icans would recognize that natural rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happi¬
ness extended to all. For example, on July 8, 1837, on the heels of Fourth of
July celebrations in the United States, The Colored American published an
article which read:
[Mlore than 60 years ago the different states of this Confederacy combined in pub¬
lishing that very memorable document, “The Declaration of Independence” in which
all men are declared to be free and equal and they pledged their lives, their fortunes
and their sacred honor to support the holy principle. Yet, strange inconsistency!
After the lapse of sixty odd years of light and improvement the same great Confed¬
eracy continue to hold more than two millions of slaves, in a bondage most cruel...
(“Serious Reflections”).
Further evidence reveals more Black reverence for the Declaration. In August
1838, the newspaper published a report of the (Black) Cincinnati Union Soci¬
ety’s meeting, at which a number of resolutions were passed. Resolution no. 9
read: “The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of Ohio — both
on the side of Liberty and Equality when not misinterpreted” (“Cincinnati”).
In a November 1839 piece, the writer(s) maintained that “Abolitionists seek
nothing beyond what is contemplated in these honored declarations [the doc¬
trine of the Declaration of Independence and the Kentucky Bill of Rights] that
the blessings of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness may be left open
to the enjoyment of all” (“Abolition Dying Away”). Editor Ray coauthored a
speech at the 1840 Albany Colored People’s Convention in which its authors
concluded: “We ask only for a living manifestation of belief in the above doc¬
trine [the Declaration’s natural rights]; we already know too much of its dead
letter” (Minutes 35).
Like The Liberator, The Colored American opposed the tactics and goals of
the Canadian rebels, while ignoring their appeals to the philosophy of the
Declaration of Independence. It backed the United States government’s obser¬
vance of neutrality regarding the conflict and urged punishment for American
allies of Papineau and Mackenzie, describing them as “hotheaded, restless
spirits on our frontiers” (“Canadas”). Clearly, its devotion to ‘republican mo¬
rality’ came in second to more pragmatic concerns.
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