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[Pg ii]

ABRAHAM LINCOLN
A Man of the People, who Loved and Served the People.

[Pg iii]

The Crime of Caste

IN OUR COUNTRY

AMERICANS ENFORCE EQUALITY

No Sham Aristocracy of Wealth Permitted by the People

Lesson of 1892 Taught Imitators of
English Aristocracy

HISTORY OF THE POWER OF PEOPLE RE-TOLD

Records for Three Thousand Years Searched
for Examples

Bullets, 1861—Ballots, 1892

By BENJAMIN R. DAVENPORT

PHILADELPHIA:
KEYSTONE PUBLISHING CO.
1893

[Pg iv]

Copyright by
JOSEPH W. MORTON, Jr.
1892

[Pg v]

This Book is Dedicated to All American Citizens,

who believe

That Patriotism, Honesty, Virtue, and Merit

ALONE CONSTITUTE INEQUALITY IN MANKIND;

WHO OBJECT TO AND RESENT ARROGANCE AND PRESUMPTION
UPON THE PART OF

THE POSSESSORS OF WEALTH

AND TO THOSE TO WHOM

“Caste” and Foreign Mannerisms are Obnoxious.

 The Author.

[Pg vi]

DEFINITION OF “CASTE.”

The word “Caste,” we derive from a Portuguese word, which means “arace;” the Portuguese being the early voyagers to the East Indies,where they found the distinction of classes of society establishedunder the Brahminical regime of India. Thence it came to be applied asa term of distinction of society in other countries. There were fourcastes in India: 1, the Priests; 2, military; 3, merchants; 4, theservile classes.

Members of the lowest caste were forbidden to marry those of theupper. Children of such unions were outcasts and irredeemably base;they could not accumulate property, nor change or improve theirconditions. Along with many other senseless and inconvenient rules forthe conduct of the different castes, were such as those forbiddingmembers of different castes from using the same springs or runningstreams, sitting at the same table, eating with the same utensils, orpreparing food in the same vessels. It was contamination for thoseof the first