John Lewis Thomas Jr. Quotes
I will go even further ... and will vote for all measures to elevate their condition and to educate them (Negroes) separate and apart from the whites ... but when it comes to placing him upon the same social and political level as my own race, I must refuse to do it.
John Lewis Thomas Jr., U. S. Congressman (Unionist, MD), Debating Education for Emancipated Negroes, Congressional Debate
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Eight years and a Civil War later, he had changed his mind and was the sponsor of the Civil Rights Act of 1866—the first Federal civil rights law in America. See {587711}.
See {618215} for a seemingly contradictory quotation by White.
This quotation is one of the most enlightening about Reconstruction. The Congress was debating the first Civil Rights Act and Harris was one of the few Southern Whites left in the Congress as Maryland had not seceded. He told the other members of Congress that no matter what they did including passing the Civil Right Act of 1866, the states will ultimately control what happens in the states without worring about the Federal government. All the efforts at equality and civil rights would fail, and the Negro must be kept inferior. Harris lost the debate and the Civil Right Act of 1866 was passed. It was vetoed by the Southern President Andrew Johnson but both Houses of Congress overrode the veto easily. But Harris was right historically as to what would happen, and it would be 100 years before civil rights legislation would be meaningful.
In a campaign speech in Charleston, Illinois where there were a large proportion of settlers of Southern extraction he said the following which was at variance with sentiments he had expressed weeks before in a speech in Chicago:
This was the infamous opinion whereby the Supreme Court upheld the “separate but equal” doctrine thereby preserving racial discrimination until the reversal over 50 years later. See the sole dissent of Justice John Marshall Harlan whose views were those that eventually prevailed although at the time all the other justices voted with the majority. See {583706} and {583703}.
One of the most amazing things about Abraham Lincoln is the way he grew and matured over time. In 1854 he was not sure that the Negro could be the equal of the white. As he met more Black leaders, saw more, reflected more, and had more responsibility, he grew and developed his views on race. But it was statements like this that led to the great distrust that the very strong abolitionists like Wendell Phillips had in him.
to have separate schools for Blacks
The editor at the time was Dr. William H. Boyle but no one is sure whether he, the owner, or someone else, wrote the editorial. The quotation illustrated a fascinating twist of logic that was very commonly held at the time. “If God created men of different colors, he must have meant them to be separate.” It is fascinating that virtually no one at the time made a similar argument about hair or eye color, intellect or other differential traits of people. Although this logical fallacy waned in the latter part of the 20th century, there are some who still hold to it.
Sumner would later become a Senator. However over a century before Brown v. Board of Education finally outlawed segregated schools, Sumner made one of the basic legal arguments that was involved in the case.
There are few people today who could believe that a United States senator would castigate the head of a Federal Agency for spreading “racial equality propaganda.” But at the time—1943—the actions of Education Commissioner John W. Studebaker and his Assistant took remarkable courage.
John Lewis Thomas Jr. (May 20, 1835 – October 15, 1893) was an American politician.
