State of the State Address

The speech showed a different side to Broward, one of a man who did not question white supremacy and who saw no possibility that blacks and whites could ever live in harmony. He didn’t want to put the white man through the turmoil of having to live alongside blacks anymore, he said.

Broward told legislators “it would be acting the part of wisdom to protect the white man from his own temper, when aroused, as it is a fact that when he esteems himself superior to any other race, he becomes intolerant of that race.”

He saw blacks as “wards of the white people” and believed it was up to whites to accomplish the “civilization and Christianization” of the world.

“Our children must be able to read the history of our lives, and see that it contains accounts of the best lived lives, and that their ancestors were the best people on earth,” Broward said.

His solution was for the U.S. to purchase a territory, buy up black-owned property at a “reasonable price,” and move the blacks to the new country. Whites would not be allowed to live there, and blacks would not be permitted to migrate back to the States.

“The white man has concluded that the negro has no pride in the institutions of the white man, and no friendship for him,” Broward said.

“The white people have no time to make excuses for the shortcomings of the negro, and the negro has less inclination to work for one and be directed by one he considers exacting, to the extent that he must do a good day’s work, or pay for the bill