"Let Us Have Peace" Remarks of Logan H. Roots on the Assassination of Hon. James Hinds, Delivered in the House of Representatives, Washington, D. C., on Friday, January 22, 1869.

Delivered on the floor of the United States House in early 1869, this stirring address captures a moment when the nation was still stitching together the wounds of civil war. Congressman Logan H. Roots speaks from personal acquaintance, recalling how James Hinds rose from a penniless childhood to become a self‑made advocate for the disenfranchised, forging his education through hard labor and unyielding resolve.

Roots moves from Hinds’s humble origins to his pivotal role in Arkansas’s reconstruction—helping draft a new state constitution and championing civil liberties for the most vulnerable. The speech then confronts the shock of Hinds’s sudden, political assassination, pleading for peace while underscoring the enduring struggle between oppression and the promise of a more just Union. Listeners are offered a vivid portrait of a courageous public servant and a sobering reminder of the perils faced by those who dare to stand for freedom.