The Democratic Platform

The Democratic party declares that they are “willing and ready” to welcome black immigration and pledges to “insist upon the just and lawful protection of our citizens at home and abroad.”

The platform as adopted by the Democratic National Convention at Denver, Colorado is a strong document and gauged by the past record of its acknowledged leader, it is a conservative deliverance from a body of men, who seem now to be adjusting their political sails with the idea of retaining the protesting elements in the Party and the purpose of bringing to their support the disgruntled element in the Republican Party. Of course the colored people are most deeply interested in that portion of the platform that specifically refers to them. In this respect they will find abundant information for their disappointment. Relative to the attitude of that party towards the colored men in this country, the platform is silent. The inference is though that the Democratic Party, even as reorganized under the masterly leadership of Hon. William J. Bryan is ready and willing to promote the emigration of the colored people to other shores. If all of the Negroes will go either to England, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Greece, Denmark, Switzerland, Turkey or any other country of the old world, all of the rights and privileges vouchsafed any other citizen of the United States will be accorded to them, for her is the language of the platform: “We pledge ourselves to insist upon the just and lawful protection of our citizens at home and abroad, and to use all proper methods to secure for them, whether native born of naturalized and without distinction of race or creed, the equal protection of law and the enjoyment of all rights and privileges open to them under our treaty the right of travel and sojourn is denied to American citizens, or recognition is withheld from American passports by any countries on the ground of race or creed, we favor prompt negotiations with the governments of such countries to secure the removal of these unjust discriminations.” Ninety-five percent of the colored people of this country are within the radius of Democratic control. That they get the equal protection of the laws is more a joke than a reality. We have been blessed with a corp of Democratic Governors, most of whom have made an effort to protect all men, charged with crime, regardless of race or color. This plank in the platform is silent though upon the question of political rights and even in its most liberal sense cannot be construed to make any promises concerning them. To this extent, it is radically at variance with the strong plank inserted in the Republican platform. Considered from the standpoint of words rather than from the arena of performances, the Republican platform has the Democratic platform, so far as it relates to the citizen of color, “beat a mile,” yes, file miles; yes, ten miles and then we might add that the difference is as far apart as the poles. The Democrats in their convention assembled were willing to grant independence to the Filipinos, who fought against the government and yet deny equal political rights to the Negroes in this country, who fought for it. Here is the plank upon that phase of the situation: “We favor an immediate declaration of the nation's’ purpose to recognize the independence of the Philippine Islands as soon as a stable government can be established, such independence to be guaranteed by us as we guarantee the independence of Cuba, until the neutralization of the Islands can be secured by treaty with other powers. In recognizing the independence of the Philippine sour government should retain such land as may be necessary for coaling stations and naval bases...

“The Democratic Platform,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed January 20, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/653.