English 2089
Dr. Brian Bailie
Oct. 17, 2015
Daniel Finke
The Question of Race
All men are equal, but some are more equal than others. This paraphrase from George
Orwell’s Animal Farm adequately depicts America in the mid-1880s. Abraham Lincoln
abolished slavery, but it did not fix all the problems and struggles for newly freed black men and
women. In fact, it is evident that the emancipation spurred on more problems and added friction
between the two races. Many disagreed with Lincoln’s famous decision and were not ready to
accept them as American citizens. One man in particular, John Tyler Morgan sought to set
things straight. He made it his own personal mission to keep Black Americans from overtaking
or gaining any ground on the “white way of life”. This was his goal and he wanted to reach the
people of America of this growing problem that he saw. He understood the power of the
rhetorical situation and used it to his advantage to keep America the way he wanted it.
Before we further describe Morgan’s goal, it is important to better understand his
background. As an adamant secessionist, he fought in the Civil War on the Confederate side.
After the war, he strongly promoted segregation of Blacks from Whites. It was clear that he did
not see African-American’s as equal based on his job and hobbies. He worked as a senator for
six years urged for strong segregation. He opposed any bill that would lead to the over education
of blacks and increase the overall illiteracy (Thomas. 62). At night however, he used his actions
over his words. He ruled the night as a Grand Dragon for the Ku Klux Klan (Hebert). This role
allowed him to control specific realms and pour out his will against black men and women. He
still wanted more. Since Morgan believed the two races could not co-exist, the only solution was
“the voluntary return of blacks to Africa” (Thomas. 63). He thought he had to convince the
public to agree with his beliefs.
Unfortunately, he sided with the teachings of scientific racism. This ill-advised, faulty
ideology was his ticket to winning the public. He knew that they would favor this way of
teaching. As a result, he used their already racist bias to his advantage. Morgan, along with
many scientific theories of the time, taught that African descendants not only looked different,
but also mental differences (Thomas p. 65). This data included craniometrics which measured
the size of skulls of different races across cultures around the world (Gould. 133). However
many years later, scientists realized the flaws and overturned this scientific data. Unfortunately
in the late 1800s, everyone had accepted this science as irrefutable truth.
At this time, the American public started to lean towards acceptance of racial minorities.
The American government began to pass laws that supported minority groups. For example, the
14th and 15th Amendment provided support for African men and women. This made it harder for
Morgan to reach his audience with his prejudiced message. Regardless, Morgan fought tirelessly
to keep congress and voters from falling subject to change. As earlier stated, several scientists
published data that would start a new war on racism. Several American’s held the belief that
black people came from an evolutionary lineage much inferior to those of Anglo-Saxon descent.
Morgan quickly sided with these studies and used them in his articles, essays and speeches
persuading others to segregate. He knew that people tend to agree with ideas that have proof and
evidence so these studies aided in reaching the public effectively.
John Tyler Morgan kept getting closer to fulfilling his goal of reaching the people who
did not initially agree with him. Before he had started his campaign against racial minorities,
some people had already taken his side with him; namely the upper class and the traditional
cultured white families. They truly believed that black men – if given the chance – could
overrun their government. They occupied the majority of his audience, but they were not his
target. Instead, he aimed for the people on the fence or those who disagreed with him. In
response to the skeptical men and women, he specifically wrote that when two races try to coexist “the inferior race will be crushed” (Thomas 66). This newfound Biological Determinism
argument along with Scientific Racism helped him win many white Americans onto his side.
Morgan believed that having Africans in America was not only a disservice to Americans, but
also to the black men because they could not survive in a civilized society as the “inferior race”.
Morgan made the argument that Africans opposed Americans because they had separate
goals from the traditional American family. While he may have been correct in this instance, he
once again distorted the truth. On the surface, black people had several views that imposed on
some white views. In reality however, both races strove towards the same goal – life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness. This caused friction between the races because the freedom of black
men brought fear into many white families. Any kind of change will bring about speculations,
and people fear what they do not understand. One definitive reason that people did not trust
Africans was because Morgan and his followers depicted Africans as barbaric and unruly
(Thomas 65). He argued that their barbaric nature would disturb the civilized nature of
Americans. He persuaded Americans by telling them what they wanted to hear and sweet-talked
them into believing things that were untrue. For example, Morgan wrote, without the presence
of Africans, America would once again live in harmony (Thomas 65). As a result, Morgan had
his audience where he wanted them. He preached his message and gained an overwhelming
amount of support.
Throughout the course of his life, John Morgan tried to answer the Race Question in the
United States. Morgan quickly became a popular speaker because he understood the significance
of the rhetorical situation. He noticed the gap between his end goal and the people of America.
Once he found ways to fill that gap his success increased. On the other hand, he did not rush
people into taking his side as much as he would have liked. Rather, he gradually showed them
why they should adopt his point of view. Morgan did not want them to think he was springing a
trap on them, he just wanted them to see what he saw as truth. He wanted the public to see how
some men were more equal than others.
Work Cited
Thomas, Brook. Plessy v. Ferguson: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford, 1997.
Print.
Gould, Stephen Jay. The Mismeasure of Man. New York: Norton, 1981. Print.
Hebert, Keith S. "Ku Klux Klan in Alabama during the Reconstruction Era." Encyclopedia of
Alabama. 14 Sept. 2010. Web. 4 Oct. 2015.