Bangor (ME) Whig and Courier, “Protection of the Freedmen,” November 22, 1865

PROTECTION OF THE FREEDMEN. Senator Wilson, in a letter expressing regret that he could not attend the reception of colored troops at Harrisburg, Penn., says:

“The faith of the country is plighted to man and to God to protect the liberties of the freedmen, and it will redeem its plighted faith. All constitutional privileges, all laws, all ordinances, all regulations of States, discriminating against colored men, must be made null and void. They must be under the same laws, be liable for the same offenses, be tried in the same manner and punished in the same degree as white persons. Whatever differences of opinion may exist in regard to suffrage for the freedman, all honest and just men must hold it to be the sacred duty of the Government of the United States to secure to them the same civil rights as the non-voting white inhabitants of their States enjoy.”