Allen Granberry Thurman (November 13, 1813 – December 12, 1895) is hardly a household name today, but in the mid-19th Century he was a well-known Ohio Democrat. In 1867 he was the Democratic candidate for governor. By the time he made this 1868 Democratic campaign speech in West Virginia he had already served in Congress and as the chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. In 1869, he would succeed the Radical Senator Ben Wade as Ohio’s senator. In 1888 he was Grover Cleveland’s running mate as the Democratic vice-presidential candidate.
This speech was given on July 16, 1868 in Grafton West Virginia as part of the Democratic campaign that year.
It was published in Crisis Wednesday, Jul 29, 1868 Columbus, OH Vol: VIII Issue: 27 Page: 210. Crisis had been a pro-Southern newspaper during the Civil War. I am posting excerpts here and the newspaper I accessed does not contain the end of the speech. As with many transcripts of 19th Century speeches, it includes crowd comments.
One may be shocked to read the politician predict in the first lines of his speech that if blacks continue to push for equality, their race will be exterminated. The ultimate extinction/extermination of blacks was a recurrent theme in Democratic and conservative editorials and speeches.
