From reading their biographies, you wouldn’t think that Jefferson Davis and Henry Highland Garnet had much in common. Davis was a white West Point graduate who owned a cotton plantation in Mississippi and spent a number of years in both houses of Congress, resigned when Mississippi seceded form the Union, and was elected President of the newly formed Confederate States. Garnet was born a slave in Maryland and his family escaped to New York City when he was nine years old, where he would eventually enter the ministry through the Presbyterian Church. He was a proponent of the abolitionist movement, and was asked by President Lincoln to deliver a sermon at the House of Representatives. They sound so similar, right?
So maybe these two men aren’t so similar, but two of their writings, Davis’ Inaugural Address and Garnet’s A Memorial Discourse share many of the same basic ideas regarding the American dream. One of Davis’ main points is that “it is the right of the people to alter or abolish a government whenever it becomes destructive of the ends for which it was established.” He believes that as Americans, the South has the right to withdraw and set up a new government because their rights have been violated. Their opportunity to participate in the American dream has been threatened, and he feels that if seceding from the Union becomes the means for regaining those rights, then that’s what the South will do. Because the majority of Davis’ audience are Southerners who are also in the same boat, its likely that they rallied behind him in his stance.
Garnet also feels that the rights of his people have been violated; only Garnet is referring to African-American slaves. In his speech, he acknowledges that many Northerners are wondering when the demands of the abolitionists will end. Garnet clearly answers, “When there shall be….no more trouble concerning the black man and his rights…when, in every respect, he shall be equal before the law.” Like Davis, Garnet feels that the rights of his people have been violated, and therefore they are not able to pursue the American dream. However, unlike Davis, Garnet may have been speaking to a group of individuals who did not feel the same way that he did, but judging from the determination that I could sense in his words and the clarity with which he chose them, I wouldn’t be surprised if he won a few of the Congressman over.
The term ‘American dream’ hasn’t necessarily been coined yet, but Davis and Garnet agree that the people they are representing have been denied their rights as American citizens, and they have formulated what they believe to be a solution. So are Davis and Garnet the similar after all? I’d say that they are. As leaders of their respective groups, they both have an understanding of what it feels like to be ‘left out’ of the American dream.
Your comparison of the two men is really excellent!
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