verywhere under the shadow of the
American flag.

I do not come to you to petition for special legislation, or for
any more amendments to the Constitution, because I think they are
unnecessary, but because you say there is not in the Constitution
enough to protect me. Therefore I ask that you, true to your own
theory and assertion, should go forward to make more constitution.

Let me remind you that in the case of all other classes of
citizens under the shadow of our flag you have been true to the
theory that taxation and representation are inseparable. Indians
not taxed are not counted in the basis of representation, and are
not allowed to vote; but the minute that your Indians are counted
in the basis of representation and are allowed to vote they are
taxed; never before. In my State of New York, and in nearly
all the States, the members of the State militia, hundreds and
thousands of men, are exempted from taxation on property; in my
State to the value of $800, and in most of the States to a value
in that neighborhood. While such a member of the militia lives,
receives his salary, and is able to earn money, he is exempted;
but when he dies the assessor puts his widow's name down upon the
assessor's list, and the tax-collector never fails to call upon
the widow and make her pay the full tax upon her property. In most
of the States clergymen are exempted. In my State of New York they
are exempted on property to the value of $1,500. As long as the
clergyman lives and receives his fat salary, or his lean one, as
the case may be, he is exempted on that amount of property; but
when the breath leaves the body of the clergyman, and the widow
is left without any income, or without any means of support, the
State comes in and taxes the widow.

So it is with regard to all black men. In the State of New York up
to the day of the passage of the fifteenth amendment, black men
who were willing to remain without reporting themselves worth as
much as $250, and thereby to remain without exercising the right
to vote, never had their names put on the assessor's list; they
were passed by, while, if the poorest colored woman owned 50 feet
of real estate, a little cabin anywhere, that colored woman's name
was always on the assessor's list, and she was compelled to pay
her tax. While Frederic