"Meeting of Colored Citizens"

Full Title

"Meeting of colored citizens in honor of the emancipation in the District of Columbia - The death of our late president"

Description

Resolutions of a meeting of colored citizens of the District of Columbia, which met on April 16, 1865, the third anniversary of emancipation in Washington, D.C. The group resolved to mourn the recent assassination of Abraham Lincoln and pay tribute to his role as emancipator. The resolution states that they believed Lincoln's should be seen as discipline for the nation's departure from the principles of equality present in the founding documents, including the Declaration of Independence. The group also sends its condolences to the Lincoln family and Willard H. Seward and his household, which were also attacked the night of the president's assassination.

Transcription

Meeting of colored citizens in honor of the emancipation in the District of Columbia - The death of our late president
Persuant to the notice that appeared in The Chronicle, the colored citizens of Washington met in the Fifteenth street Presbyterian church on the anniversary of the emancipation in the District of Columbia.
The meeting was organized by electing Mr. C. A. Stewart chairman, and Mr. W. H. Wormley secretary. Remarks were then made by several speakers, relative to the death of the late President of the United States.
The Chair appointed the following gentlemen a committee on resolutions:
Samuel J. Datcher, William Syphax, D. G. Muse, William A. Hughes, and John F. Cook
The committee, after a brief withdrawal reported the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted, as expressive of the feelings of the meeting.
Whereas on the 14th of April, 1865, our late President, Abraham Lincoln, was foully assassinated; and, whereas, in him we, the colored people of the District of Columbia have lost an emancipator, benefactor, friend and leader: therefore be it
Resolved, That we, in common with all other loyal citizens of the Republic, have cause to mourn the sudden loss of one whose faithfulness to convictions of duty, and earnest execution of his realizations of the truth whose warm-heartedness, magnanimity, frankness, and honesty have endeared him to our hearts,
Resolved, That we devoutly feel this lamentable event to be a part of the chastening discipline to which the nation is being subjected for its departure from the original principles on which the Government was founded, the self-evident and unyielding truths of the Declaration of Independence, "that all men are born free and equal and endowed with the inalienable gift of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
Resolved, that we condole with his sorrowing wife and bereaved children in the terrible bereavement; and our sincree prayers shall be to Almighty God to sustain them in their hour of saddening trial.
Resolved, that we sincerely sympathize with the Hon. Secretary of State, and his son the able assistant Secretary, and their families, in their great suffering and aggravated injuries, and pray God for their speedy recovery to health.
Resolved, that the foregoing resolutions be published in the city papers, and a copy be transmitted to the family of our late president.

Source

Washingtoniana Microfilm Collection

Rights

This item may be reproduced and used for any purpose, including research, teaching, private study, publication, broadcast or commercial use, with proper citation and attribution.

Tags

• transcribed

• free African American

• grief

• honoring

• mourning

• sympathy

Cite this Item

Daily Morning Chronicle. ""Meeting of colored citizens in honor of the emancipation in the District of Columbia - The death of our late president"". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed November 22, 2024. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/494

Item Type

Newspaper

Creator

Daily Morning Chronicle

Date

April 17, 1865

Material

newspaper

Region

District of Columbia