The National Anti-Slavery Standard was the American Anti-Slavery Society’s official newspaper. It was published from 1840 to 1870. In early 1865, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States, was desperate to reinforce the army and felt there was only one way to do it-arm enslaved men. On February 10, 1865, bills providing for their arming were introduced both in the House and Senate. Robert M. T. Hunter (1809-1887) had been Speaker of the House of Representatives, and was a Senator from Virginia at the outbreak of the Civil War. He served as the Confederate Secretary of State (1861-1862), and in the Confederate Senate (1862-1865). He opposed the Negro Arming Bill and spoke out against it, but he voted for it since he had been instructed to by the Virginia Legislature. He felt this bill contradicted the reasons the South had gone to war since it interfered with the institution of slavery and would emancipate the enslaved who joined the army.
National Anti-Slavery Standard. “Arming the Slaves.” American Anti-Slavery Society, March 25, 1865. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/l05-065/. Accessed on October 16, 2024.
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