Of such weapons the greatest, perhaps, in the modern
world is the power of the ballot; and this brings me to a
consideration of the third form of contact between whites and
blacks in the South,--political activity.
In the attitude of the American mind toward Negro suffrage
can be traced with unusual accuracy the prevalent conceptions
of government. In the fifties we were near enough the echoes
of the French Revolution to believe pretty thoroughly in
universal suffrage. We argued, as we thought then rather
logically, that no social class was so good, so true, and so
disinterested as to be trusted wholly with the political destiny
of its neighbors; that in every state the best arbiters of their
own welfare are the persons directly affected; consequently
that it is only by arming every hand with a ballot,--with the
right to have a voice in the policy of the state,--that the
greatest good to the greatest number could be attained. To be
sure, there were objections to these arguments, but we thought
we had answered them tersely and convincingly; if some one
complained of the ignorance of voters, we answered, "Edu-
cate them.
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