In some trifling particulars the condition of that race has been
ameliorated; but as a whole, in this country, the change between then and
now is decidedly the other way, and their ultimate destiny has never
appeared so hopeless as in the last three or four years. In two of the
five States--New Jersey and North Carolina--that then gave the free negro
the right of voting, the right has since been taken away, and in a
third--New York--it has been greatly abridged; while it has not been
extended, so far as I know, to a single additional State, though the
number of the States has more than doubled. In those days, as I
understand, masters could, at their own pleasure, emancipate their
slaves; but since then such legal restraints have been made upon
emancipation as to amount almost to prohibition. In those days
Legislatures held the unquestioned power to abolish slavery in their
respective States, but now it is becoming quite fashionable for State
constitutions to withhold that power from the Legislatures. In those
days, by common consent, the spread of the black man's bondage to the new
countries was prohibited, but now Congress decides that it will not
continue the prohibition, and the Supreme Court decides that it could not
if it would.
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