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Reconstruction

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Featured in  The Atlantic Monthly , Volume 18, Number 110, pages 761–765. (December 1866).

THE assembling of the Second Session of the Thirty-ninth Congress may very properly be made the occasion of a few earnest words on the already much-worn topic of reconstruction.

Seldom has any legislative body been the subject of a solicitude more intense, or of aspirations more sincere and ardent. There are the best of reasons for this profound interest. Questions of vast moment, left undecided by the last session of Congress, must be manfully grappled with by this. No political skirmishing will avail. The occasion demands statesmanship.

Whether the tremendous war so heroically fought and so victoriously ended shall pass into history a miserable failure, barren of permanent results,—a scandalous and shocking waste of blood and treasure,—a strife for empire, as Earl Russell characterized it, of no value to liberty or civilization,—an attempt to re-establish a Union by force, which must be the merest mockery of a Union,—an effort to bring under Federal authority States into which no loyal man from the North may safely enter, and to bring men into the national councils who deliberate with daggers and vote with revolvers, and who do not even conceal their deadly hate of the country that conquered them; or whether, on the other hand, we shall, as the rightful reward of victory over treason, have a solid nation, entirely delivered from all contradictions and social antagonisms, based upon loyalty, liberty, and equality, must be determined one way or the other by the present session of Congress. The last session really did nothing which can be considered final as to these questions. The Civil Rights Bill and the Freedmen's Bureau Bill and the proposed constitutional amendments, with the amendment already adopted and recognized as the law of the land, do not reach the difficulty, and cannot, unless the whole structure of the government is changed from a government by States to something like a despotic central government, with power to control even the municipal regulations of States, and to make them conform to its own despotic will. While there remains such an idea as the right of each State to control its own local affairs,—an idea, by the way, more deeply rooted in the minds of men of all sections of the country than perhaps any one other political idea,—no general assertion of human rights can be of any practical value. To change the character of the government at this point is neither possible nor desirable. All that is necessary to be done is to make the government consistent with itself, and render the rights of the States compatible with the sacred rights of human nature.

The arm of the Federal government is long, but it is far too short to protect the rights of individuals in the interior of distant States. They must have the power to protect themselves, or they will go unprotected, spite of all the laws the Federal government can put upon the national statute-book.

Slavery, like all other great systems of wrong, founded in the depths of human selfishness, and existing for ages, has not neglected its own conservation. It has steadily exerted an influence upon all around it favorable to its own continuance. And to-day it is so strong that it could exist, not only without law, but even against law. Custom, manners, morals, religion, are all on its side everywhere in the South; and when you add the ignorance and servility of the ex-slave to the intelligence and accustomed authority of the master, you have the conditions, not out of which slavery will again grow, but under which it is impossible for the Federal government to wholly destroy it, unless the Federal government be armed with despotic power, to blot out State authority, and to station a Federal officer at every cross-road. This, of course, cannot be done, and ought not even if it could. The true way and the easiest way is to make our government entirely consistent with itself, and give to every loyal citizen the elective franchise,—a right and power which will be ever present, and will form a wall of fire for his protection.

One of the invaluable compensations of the late Rebellion is the highly instructive disclosure it made of the true source of danger to republican government. Whatever may be tolerated in monarchical and despotic governments, no republic is safe that tolerates a privileged class, or denies to any of its citizens equal rights and equal means to maintain them. What was theory before the war has been made fact by the war.

There is cause to be thankful even for rebellion. It is an impressive teacher, though a stern and terrible one. In both characters it has come to us, and it was perhaps needed in both. It is an instructor never a day before its time, for it comes only when all other means of progress and enlightenment have failed. Whether the oppressed and despairing bondman, no longer able to repress his deep yearnings for manhood, or the tyrant, in his pride and impatience, takes the initiative, and strikes the blow for a firmer hold and a longer lease of oppression, the result is the same,—society is instructed, or may be.

Such are the limitations of the common mind, and so thoroughly engrossing are the cares of common life, that only the few among men can discern through the glitter and dazzle of present prosperity the dark outlines of approaching disasters, even though they may have come up to our very gates, and are already within striking distance. The yawning seam and corroded bolt conceal their defects from the mariner until the storm calls all hands to the pumps. Prophets, indeed, were abundant before the war; but who cares for prophets while their predictions remain unfulfilled, and the calamities of which they tell are masked behind a blinding blaze of national prosperity?

It is asked, said Henry Clay, on a memorable occasion, Will slavery never come to an end? That question, said he, was asked fifty years ago, and it has been answered by fifty years of unprecedented prosperity. Spite of the eloquence of the earnest Abolitionists,—poured out against slavery during thirty years,—even they must confess, that, in all the probabilities of the case, that system of barbarism would have continued its horrors far beyond the limits of the nineteenth century but for the Rebellion, and perhaps only have disappeared at last in a fiery conflict, even more fierce and bloody than that which has now been suppressed.

It is no disparagement to truth, that it can only prevail where reason prevails. War begins where reason ends. The thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion. What that thing is, we have been taught to our cost. It remains now to be seen whether we have the needed courage to have that cause entirely removed from the Republic. At any rate, to this grand work of national regeneration and entire purification Congress must now address itself, with full purpose that the work shall this time be thoroughly done. The deadly upas, root and branch, leaf and fibre, body and sap, must be utterly destroyed. The country is evidently not in a condition to listen patiently to pleas for postponement, however plausible, nor will it permit the responsibility to be shifted to other shoulders. Authority and power are here commensurate with the duty imposed. There are no cloud-flung shadows to obscure the way. Truth shines with brighter light and intenser heat at every moment, and a country torn and rent and bleeding implores relief from its distress and agony.

If time was at first needed, Congress has now had time. All the requisite materials from which to form an intelligent judgment are now before it. Whether its members look at the origin, the progress, the termination of the war, or at the mockery of a peace now existing, they will find only one unbroken chain of argument in favor of a radical policy of reconstruction. For the omissions of the last session, some excuses may be allowed. A treacherous President stood in the way; and it can be easily seen how reluctant good men might be to admit an apostasy which involved so much of baseness and ingratitude. It was natural that they should seek to save him by bending to him even when he leaned to the side of error. But all is changed now. Congress knows now that it must go on without his aid, and even against his machinations. The advantage of the present session over the last is immense. Where that investigated, this has the facts. Where that walked by faith, this may walk by sight. Where that halted, this must go forward, and where that failed, this must succeed, giving the country whole measures where that gave us half-measures, merely as a means of saving the elections in a few doubtful districts. That Congress saw what was right, but distrusted the enlightenment of the loyal masses; but what was forborne in distrust of the people must now be done with a full knowledge that the people expect and require it. The members go to Washington fresh from the inspiring presence of the people. In every considerable public meeting, and in almost every conceivable way, whether at court-house, school-house, or cross-roads, in doors and out, the subject has been discussed, and the people have emphatically pronounced in favor of a radical policy. Listening to the doctrines of expediency and compromise with pity, impatience, and disgust, they have everywhere broken into demonstrations of the wildest enthusiasm when a brave word has been spoken in favor of equal rights and impartial suffrage. Radicalism, so far from being odious, is now the popular passport to power. The men most bitterly charged with it go to Congress with the largest majorities, while the timid and doubtful are sent by lean majorities, or else left at home. The strange controversy between the President and Congress, at one time so threatening, is disposed of by the people. The high reconstructive powers which he so confidently, ostentatiously, and haughtily claimed, have been disallowed, denounced, and utterly repudiated; while those claimed by Congress have been confirmed.

Of the spirit and magnitude of the canvass nothing need be said. The appeal was to the people, and the verdict was worthy of the tribunal. Upon an occasion of his own selection, with the advice and approval of his astute Secretary, soon after the members of Congress had returned to their constituents, the President quitted the executive mansion, sandwiched himself between two recognized heroes,—men whom the whole country delighted to honor,—and, with all the advantage which such company could give him, stumped the country from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, advocating everywhere his policy as against that of Congress. It was a strange sight, and perhaps the most disgraceful exhibition ever made by any President; but, as no evil is entirely unmixed, good has come of this, as from many others. Ambitious, unscrupulous, energetic, indefatigable, voluble, and plausible,—a political gladiator, ready for a "set-to" in any crowd,—he is beaten in his own chosen field, and stands to-day before the country as a convicted usurper, a political criminal, guilty of a bold and persistent attempt to possess himself of the legislative powers solemnly secured to Congress by the Constitution. No vindication could be more complete, no condemnation could be more absolute and humiliating. Unless reopened by the sword, as recklessly threatened in some circles, this question is now closed for all time.

Without attempting to settle here the metaphysical and somewhat theological question (about which so much has already been said and written), whether once in the Union means always in the Union,—agreeably to the formula, Once in grace always in grace,—it is obvious to common sense that the rebellious States stand to-day, in point of law, precisely where they stood when, exhausted, beaten, conquered, they fell powerless at the feet of Federal authority. Their State governments were overthrown, and the lives and property of the leaders of the Rebellion were forfeited. In reconstructing the institutions of these shattered and overthrown States, Congress should begin with a clean slate, and make clean work of it. Let there be no hesitation. It would be a cowardly deference to a defeated and treacherous President, if any account were made of the illegitimate, one-sided, sham governments hurried into existence for a malign purpose in the absence of Congress. These pretended governments, which were never submitted to the people, and from participation in which four millions of the loyal people were excluded by Presidential order, should now be treated according to their true character, as shams and impositions, and supplanted by true and legitimate governments, in the formation of which loyal men, black and white, shall participate.

It is not, however, within the scope of this paper to point out the precise steps to be taken, and the means to be employed. The people are less concerned about these than the grand end to be attained. They demand such a reconstruction as shall put an end to the present anarchical state of things in the late rebellious States,—where frightful murders and wholesale massacres are perpetrated in the very presence of Federal soldiers. This horrible business they require shall cease. They want a reconstruction such as will protect loyal men, black and white, in their persons and property; such a one as will cause Northern industry, Northern capital, and Northern civilization to flow into the South, and make a man from New England as much at home in Carolina as elsewhere in the Republic. No Chinese wall can now be tolerated. The South must be opened to the light of law and liberty, and this session of Congress is relied upon to accomplish this important work.

The plain, common-sense way of doing this work, as intimated at the beginning, is simply to establish in the South one law, one government, one administration of justice, one condition to the exercise of the elective franchise, for men of all races and colors alike. This great measure is sought as earnestly by loyal white men as by loyal blacks, and is needed alike by both. Let sound political prescience but take the place of an unreasoning prejudice, and this will be done.

Men denounce the negro for his prominence in this discussion; but it is no fault of his that in peace as in war, that in conquering Rebel armies as in reconstructing the rebellious States, the right of the negro is the true solution of our national troubles. The stern logic of events, which goes directly to the point, disdaining all concern for the color or features of men, has determined the interests of the country as identical with and inseparable from those of the negro.

The policy that emancipated and armed the negro—now seen to have been wise and proper by the dullest—was not certainly more sternly demanded than is now the policy of enfranchisement. If with the negro was success in war, and without him failure, so in peace it will be found that the nation must fall or flourish with the negro.

Fortunately, the Constitution of the United States knows no distinction between citizens on account of color. Neither does it know any difference between a citizen of a State and a citizen of the United States. Citizenship evidently includes all the rights of citizens, whether State or national. If the Constitution knows none, it is clearly no part of the duty of a Republican Congress now to institute one. The mistake of the last session was the attempt to do this very thing, by a renunciation of its power to secure political rights to any class of citizens, with the obvious purpose to allow the rebellious States to disfranchise, if they should see fit, their colored citizens. This unfortunate blunder must now be retrieved, and the emasculated citizenship given to the negro supplanted by that contemplated in the Constitution of the United States, which declares that the citizens of each State shall enjoy all the rights and immunities of citizens of the several States,—so that a legal voter in any State shall be a legal voter in all the States.

In the final sentence of his essay, Frederick Douglass reiterates his two primary political desires: to encourage the primacy of the federal government over disparate state governments and to enfranchise all American citizens, African-American or white, Northern or Southern. Douglass’s method of crafting a conclusion which seamlessly combines and highlights his two main points serves as an example of effective rhetoric.

To “disfranchise” is to “disenfranchise,” which means to deprive someone of the right to vote. The disenfranchisement of African Americans by Southerners was one of the most significant challenges to the advancement of civil rights in the wake of the war.

Here Douglass again tackles the issue of states’ rights. In trying to grant citizenship to former slaves in the wake of the Emancipation Proclamation, Congress encountered the problem of whether the definition of citizenship could alter from state to state. Douglass proposes that citizenship should not be thus alterable, that an American citizen in one state ought to be an American citizen in all states, maintaining all the rights and privileges of a citizen. The Fourteenth Amendment of 1868 clarified this point but did not eradicate resistance among the Southern states.

Douglass is correct to indicate that in 1866 the Constitution did not delineate citizens according to race. Despite this fact, Congress was compelled to pass the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868 , a measure which clarified the citizenship of all Americans, regardless of race.

The policy that Frederick Douglass refers to here is the Emancipation Proclamation , issued in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln. Douglass’s point is that just as the Emancipation Proclamation was met first with resistance and later with acceptance, so will the controversial cause of African American suffrage eventually be viewed as a clear and necessary advancement.

Douglass suggests here that what is best for the country is what is best for African Americans, and vice versa. His point is that African Americans represent neither a nuisance nor a specialized group in discussions of Reconstruction. Rather, all Americans are genuinely seeking the same goals and the process of Reconstruction ought to be approached from such an angle.

Douglass is calling for two developments here. First, he wants a centralized federal government guiding the South, rather than scattered, inconsistent state legislatures. Second, he wants enfranchisement for those of all races, including African Americans. While the changes he proposes would take many decades to come about, Congress soon passed the laws he calls for here in the form of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.

In this metaphor, Douglass reveals his broader vision for the United States in the wake of the Civil War. The Great Wall of China stretches along the western Chinese border and was built and maintained over millennia to keep Mongolian tribes out. Douglass views a similar, though metaphorical, wall dividing the North and South of the United States, with the South—in the mode of medieval China—resisting the North’s laws and values. Thus, along with Reconstruction, Douglass is calling for “the light of law and liberty” to flow into the South. Ultimately, Douglass is calling for national unity.

According to the values of Northerners, progressive for their time, the ideal constituency would have been all male citizens, “black and white.” The cause of women’s suffrage had already begun, however, and would advance for the next half century, eventually culminating in the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. Frederick Douglass was an active figure in the women’s rights movement, which was centered in New England. In fact, there was a great deal of overlap between abolitionists and women’s rights activists.

Here Douglass refers to President Johnson’s initiation of the new “pretended” state governments without holding democratic elections. The Southern states held conventions to draft new constitutions and vote for new officials. African Americans—the “four millions” Douglass mentions—were excluded from these conventions, per Johnson’s orders. It was during these conventions, which largely consisted of ex-Confederate white men, that the brutal “Black Codes” were passed.

Douglass recommends a fate for the new state governments of the South: “begin with a clean slate, and make clean work of it.” As President Johnson instated of a new set of Southern governors and legislative bodies, Congress watched in bafflement and fury. Douglass’s suggestion to Congress is to wipe the slate clean of Johnson’s questionable choices, and start over in the reinstitution of the Southern state governments.

The phrase “Once in grace, always in grace” refers to the Christian notion of eternal security , which originated in the writings of St. Augustine in the 5th century. Eternal security suggests that those who are faithful to God will always remain so, despite any sinful acts along the way. Frederick Douglass offers this Augustinian formula as context for the status of the Southern states, who have sinned in their rebellion. Douglass nods to the ongoing debates over whether the South may redeem itself, though he does not throw his own voice in.

The “strange controversy” Douglass refers to is the rift between President Johnson and Congress. Johnson first turned from Congress when enacting a series of Reconstruction measures. Congress reacted by rejecting the new batch of Southern congressmen and passing a series of civil rights-oriented laws without Johnson’s approval.

An “apostasy” is an abandonment of faith. In this case, Douglass is suggesting that those who wish to see the advancement of civil rights might experience despair in the wake of President Johnson’s brash, retrogressive actions.

Douglass refers to President Andrew Johnson as “a treacherous President” for several reasons. Johnson undertook the process of Reconstruction by shutting out the opinions of Congress and effectively resurrecting the former governing bodies of the South. Johnson handpicked new governors for the Southern states and gave each state the opportunity to gather a whites-only convention and draft a new state constitution. These actions infuriated Congress and Douglass alike.

Here Douglass appeals to Congress to push for responsible Reconstruction at a faster rate. Douglass takes a no-excuses approach, stating that Congress has had enough time to enact the proper changes. Douglass’s idea of enough time is one year, for this essay was published one year after the end of the war. Ultimately, it would take five years for Congress to pass the entire body of civil rights legislation Douglass calls for.

Diction choices such as “anarchical,” “frightful murders,” and “wholesale massacres” serve as a pathos appeal, or an appeal to the emotions of his audience. Douglass uses this language to bring home the dangers present in the “late rebellious States” to his readers and emphasize the need for consistent federal policies to protect the people from such violence.

Douglass refers to President Johnson as a “convicted usurper” because of Johnson’s actions immediately after the end of the Civil War. A “usurper” is someone who seizes power or authority without appropriate cause. While Johnson was Lincoln’s vice president, Douglass calls him a usurper because of Johnson’s immediate actions after Lincoln’s assassination, which he performed without consulting Congress. Douglass likely states that Johnson is “convicted” of these crimes because Congress took measures into their own hands to protect the freed African Americans by passing legislation and overriding Johnson’s veto for the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

In the pursuit of women’s rights, Douglass was a strong supporter. The first American women’s rights convention, known as the Seneca Falls Convention, was held in June of 1848. Douglass was the only African American present, and he eloquently argued for women’s suffrage, signing a key document in women’s suffrage— Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s Declaration of Sentiments .

The noun “suffrage” has had varied meanings over time, but from the 18th century on, it has referred to exercising one’s right to vote. For Douglass, “impartial suffrage” is akin to full enfranchisement of all American citizens. Douglass was not only an advocate for African-American suffrage, he also was a vocal proponent of women’s suffrage in the 19th century, supporting the efforts of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and other women’s rights activists.

Douglass employs a rhetorical strategy in this passage to make an appeal to his audience. By claiming that people from all walks of life have expressed favor for a radical policy, Douglass not only illustrates that his argument has broad support but also connects with the public, showing that their concerns are his concerns.

The upas, Antiaris toxicaria , is a tree known for the deadly poisons it produces. Douglass uses the upas as a metaphor for the systemic problems at the heart of the United States, namely slavery and inequality. Just as one must uproot and destroy the upas in its entirety, so must the United States eradicate the remaining sources of inequality.

Henry Clay was a famous politician from Kentucky who served as a senator, representative, and secretary of state. Known for his remarkable ability to forge compromises between clashing interests, he was instrumental in limiting the spread of Southern slavery in the decade before the Civil War. Despite his Kentucky background, he brought to Washington a staunch anti-slavery stance.

The word “bond” literally refers to a restraint, or something which binds. So, a “bondman” refers to someone kept in bondage, such as a serf or a slave, but it also has historically referred to peasants or those in service to a superior. Douglass contrasts the bondman with the tyrant to appeal to a broad audience by claiming that regardless of status, rebellion can happen when reason fails.

Here Douglass discusses how social and political problems build up below the level of public awareness. Such a trend is particularly true in a time of prosperity and bustling busyness, as was the case in the United States—particularly the North—during the mid-19th century. The problem Douglass targets is that of class inequality, a deep disease of which Southern rebellion was a mere symptom. Only a clear crisis can alert the public to structural ills. Douglass illustrates this phenomenon with the metaphor of the broken bilge pump that goes unnoticed until a storm strikes and its disrepair becomes lamentably clear.

In this passage, Douglass is presaging the Fourteenth Amendment , which would be passed two years later, in 1868. The Fourteenth Amendment, one of the most important pieces of legislation of the Reconstruction era, definitively granted full citizenship to all natural-born Americans, regardless of race or former enslavement. As with many of the changes Douglass calls for in this essay, the proper laws were passed swiftly but the deeper sources of racism continued to linger long after.

Douglass expresses his desire for the full enfranchisement of African Americans, a change that would come about four years later with the passing of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870. Douglass would go on to champion the cause of African-American suffrage for the rest of his life. Even after the passing of the Fifteenth Amendment, many white Southerners have endeavored, often effectively, to block African Americans from voting.

The noun “franchise” means “freedom,” or access to privileges and rights granted by a governing body. When Douglass expresses a desire to “give to every loyal citizen the elective franchise,” he means the power to vote, as full enfranchisement—having the same rights as whites—was not yet a reality for African Americans during Reconstruction.

Douglass’s use of an accessible metaphor allows him to appeal to a wider audience. Here, the “arm of the Federal government” refers to the influence it has in enforcing laws. On a connotative level, “arm” calls to mind “arms,” which also suggests that Douglass includes the military power of the Federal government in this claim. This brings up a practical perspective: enforcing the laws through Federal troops is costly, expensive, and cannot reach the rights of all individuals.

Douglass uses the adjective “despotic” in several locations in this text. The word itself refers to the nature of a despot, or a tyrant that possesses absolute power. His use of this word helps to clarify that while he favors a strong federal government, he is against a government that abuses its power and oppresses its citizenry.

Douglass takes a nuanced view of federal governance. He supports a centralized federal government and favors consistency across the nation. However, he knows that there is a limit to how much power a government ought to wield. The problem of protecting freedmen highlights the challenge of striking such a balance. To enforce new federal laws protecting freedmen, there would need to be a “Federal officer at every cross-road.” Such a solution is not only unrealistic but also suffocating to a democratic body—in Douglass’s words, it is “despotic.”

Congress established the Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees, known as the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill , shortly before the Civil War. Since Lincoln and others knew that the Emancipation Proclamation could only temporarily serve until a constitutional amendment was instituted, the bureau helped support the newly freed slaves by providing food, opportunities to lease land, and negotiating labor contracts.

Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 in response to the Black Codes that the former Confederate States had established. These codes essentially recreated most aspects of slavery, implementing discriminatory laws to keep African Americans subjugated by barring them from owning land or meeting after dark. Police had the power to arrest unemployed African Americans and force them to work for the white men who bailed them out.

Douglass confronts the immense challenges of dismantling the tradition of Southern slavery. He understands that new laws alone cannot obliterate the underlying attitudes, prejudices, and values that accompany the institution of slavery. Douglass notes that, despite emancipation, slavery “could exist… even against law.” This is correct; indentured servitude continued in the South for decades after the Emancipation Proclamation, often backed up by insidious “Black Codes.”

Douglass constructed the preceding part of this paragraph in a set of conditional “whether” clauses. This allows him to ask rhetorical questions without actually asking them, allowing his audience to understand them as issues needing resolution. This serves as an appeal to his audience by allowing them to interpret his conditions and sympathize with his point. With this line, he claims that despite the actions of Congress in 1865 and the majority of 1866, the central, lasting answers to how to approach Reconstruction need to be addressed.

Douglass employs the metaphors to “deliberate with daggers” and “vote with revolvers” to emphasize the danger and disloyalty of incorporating Confederate politicians into the US government. Both daggers and revolvers are weapons, so saying politicians deliberate and vote with them suggests that no constructive debate is possible. Douglass is likely referring to the former Confederates whom Congress refused to seat in December 1865.

Douglass takes a realistic stance here. Regarding the fates of the recently freed slaves in the South, referred to at the time as “freedmen,” Douglass claims that they must defend themselves. Despite the “long arm” of the federal government, the South remains a hostile territory for African Americans. Newly inked laws cannot quickly erase a deep tradition of racism.

This paragraph displays Douglass’s distaste for states’ rights. In his view, the best government is a strong, centralized federal government. One of the primary sources of division between the North and the South—both before and after the war—was their differing visions of governance. The North favored a powerful federal government, the South strong state governments and minimal federal supervision. President Johnson’s first moves towards Reconstruction aligned with the Southern ideal. Douglass thinks this scattered, state-by-state model of government is a disaster, hampering attempts at nationwide progress.

Douglass claims that “statesmanship” is needed; that is, he believes that the work of Reconstruction requires a skillful, diplomatic approach. Since he makes this claim, he suggests that thus far Reconstruction has not been handled appropriately by those in authority. This claim sets the foundation for his argument by providing the necessary context, identifying the main problem, and offering a proposal for action.

Douglass’s use of “solicitude” here is notable due to varying definitions of the word. In one sense, it refers to a state of unease, disquietude, anxiety, care, or concern. In another, it is similar to “solicitation” and means something similar to “petition.” Douglass’s choice of diction here appears to take both into account: Congress had been subject to unease and concern as well as the petitions of citizens to deal with Reconstruction following the Civil War.

At the time of Frederick Douglass’s writing, Congress was in the middle of passing a series of laws intended to assist the African-American population, both in the North and the South. The Civil Rights Bill granted full citizenship to African Americans; the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill established organizations to assist former slaves in the South; the constitutional amendments—the Thirteenth and Fourteenth—abolished slavery and granted African Americans equal protection under the law. Douglass supports all of these measures but emphasizes that laws alone are not enough to bring proper change to the South, still under the spell of centuries of deeply-ingrained racism.

The 39th Congress met from March 4, 1865, to March 4, 1867. By December of 1866, Congress had enacted the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill and the Civil Rights Act of 1866 in response to President Johnson’s personal Reconstruction policy. He calls the topic of Reconstruction “much-worn” due to the constant debate, opposing policies, and general anxiety around reintegrating the rebel states into the Union. Because of this, he uses the gathering of the second session of Congress as an occasion to call for specific action on Reconstruction, which he outlines shortly.

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3.4 Annotated Sample Reading: from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass

Learning outcomes.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Read in several genres to understand how conventions are shaped by purpose, language, culture, and expectation.
• Use reading for inquiry, learning, critical thinking, and communicating in varying rhetorical and cultural contexts.
• Read a diverse range of texts, attending to relationships among ideas, patterns of organization, and interplay between verbal and nonverbal elements.

Introduction

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) was born into slavery in Maryland. He never knew his father, barely knew his mother, and was separated from his grandmother at a young age. As a boy, Douglass understood there to be a connection between literacy and freedom. In the excerpt from his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave , that follows, you will learn about how Douglass learned to read. By age 12, he was reading texts about the natural rights of human beings. At age 15, he began educating other enslaved people. When Douglass was 20, he met Anna Murray, whom he would later marry. Murray helped Douglass plot his escape from slavery. Dressed as a sailor, Douglass bought a train ticket northward. Within 24 hours, he arrived in New York City and declared himself free. Douglass went on to work as an activist in the abolitionist movement as well as the women’s suffrage movement.

In the portion of the text included here, Douglass chooses to represent the dialogue of Mr. Auld, an enslaver who by the laws of the time owns Douglass. Douglass describes this moment with detail and accuracy, including Mr. Auld’s use of a racial slur. In an interview with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Harvard professor Randall Kennedy (b. 1954), who has traced the historical evolution of the word, notes that one of its first uses, recorded in 1619, appears to have been descriptive rather than derogatory. However, by the mid-1800s, White people had appropriated the term and begun using it with its current negative connotation. In response, over time, Black people have reclaimed the word (or variations of it) for different purposes, including mirroring racism, creating irony, and reclaiming community and personal power—using the word for a contrasting purpose to the way others use it. Despite this evolution, Professor Kennedy explains that the use of the word should be accompanied by a deep understanding of one’s audience and by being clear about the intention. However, even when intention is very clear and malice is not intended, harm can, and likely will, occur. Thus, Professor Kennedy cautions that all people should understand the history of the word, be aware of its potential negative effect on an audience, and therefore use it sparingly, or preferably not at all.

In the case of Mr. Auld and Douglass, Douglass gives an account of Auld’s exact language in order to hold a mirror to the racism of Mr. Auld—and the reading audience of his memoir—and to emphasize the theme that literacy (or education) is one way to combat racism.

Living by Their Own Words

Literacy from unexpected sources.

annotated text From the title and from Douglass’s use of pronoun I, you know this work is autobiographical and therefore written from the first-person point of view. end annotated text

public domain text [excerpt begins with first full paragraph on page 33 and ends on page 34 where the paragraph ends] end public domain text

public domain text Very soon after I went to live with Mr. and Mrs. Auld, she very kindly commenced to teach me the A, B, C. After I had learned this, she assisted me in learning to spell words of three or four letters. Just at this point of my progress, Mr. Auld found out what was going on, and at once forbade Mrs. Auld to instruct me further, telling her, among other things, that it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read. end public domain text

annotated text Douglass describes the background situation and the culture of the time, which he will defy in his quest for literacy. The word choice in his narration of events indicates that he is writing for an educated audience. end annotated text

public domain text To use his own words, further, he said, “If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master—to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world. Now,” said he, “if you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy.” end public domain text

annotated text In sharing this part of the narrative, Douglass underscores the importance of literacy. He provides a description of Mr. Auld, a slaveholder, who seeks to impose illiteracy as a means to oppress others. In this description of Mr. Auld’s reaction, Douglass shows that slaveholders feared the power that enslaved people would have if they could read and write. end annotated text

annotated text Douglass provides the details of Auld’s dialogue not only because it is a convention of narrative genre but also because it demonstrates the purpose and motivation for his forthcoming pursuit of literacy. We have chosen to maintain the authenticity of the original text by using the language that Douglass offers to quote Mr. Auld’s dialogue because it both provides context for the rhetorical situation and underscores the value of the attainment of literacy for Douglass. However, contemporary audiences must understand that this language should be uttered only under very narrow circumstances in any current rhetorical situation. In general, it is best to avoid its use. end annotated text

public domain text These words sank deep into my heart, stirred up sentiments within that lay slumbering, and called into existence an entirely new train of thought. It was a new and special revelation, explaining dark and mysterious things, with which my youthful understanding had struggled, but struggled in vain. I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty—to wit, the white man’s power to enslave the black man. It was a grand achievement, and I prized it highly. From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom. It was just what I wanted, and I got it at a time when I the least expected it. Whilst I was saddened by the thought of losing the aid of my kind mistress, I was gladdened by the invaluable instruction which, by the merest accident, I had gained from my master. end public domain text

annotated text In this reflection, Douglass has a definitive and transformative moment with reading and writing. The moment that sparked a desire for literacy is a common feature in literacy narratives, particularly those of enslaved people. In that moment, he understood the value of literacy and its life-changing possibilities; that transformative moment is a central part of the arc of this literacy narrative. end annotated text

public domain text Though conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out with high hope, and a fixed purpose, at whatever cost of trouble, to learn how to read. The very decided manner with which he spoke, and strove to impress his wife with the evil consequences of giving me instruction, served to convince me that he was deeply sensible of the truths he was uttering. It gave me the best assurance that I might rely with the utmost confidence on the results which, he said, would flow from teaching me to read. What he most dreaded, that I most desired. What he most loved, that I most hated. That which to him was a great evil, to be carefully shunned, was to me a great good, to be diligently sought; and the argument which he so warmly urged, against my learning to read, only served to inspire me with a desire and determination to learn. In learning to read, I owe almost as much to the bitter opposition of my master, as to the kindly aid of my mistress. I acknowledge the benefit of both. end public domain text

annotated text Douglass articulates that this moment changed his relationship to literacy and ignited a purposeful engagement with language and learning that would last throughout his long life. The rhythm, sentence structure, and poetic phrasing in this reflection provide further evidence that Douglass, over the course of his life, actively pursued and mastered language after having this experience with Mr. Auld. end annotated text

public domain text [excerpt continues with the beginning of Chapter 7 on page 36 and ends with the end of the paragraph at the top of page 39] end public domain text

public domain text [In Chapter 7, the narrative continues] I lived in Master Hugh’s family about seven years. During this time, I succeeded in learning to read and write. In accomplishing this, I was compelled to resort to various stratagems. I had no regular teacher. My mistress, who had kindly commenced to instruct me, had, in compliance with the advice and direction of her husband, not only ceased to instruct, but had set her face against my being instructed by any one else. It is due, however, to my mistress to say of her, that she did not adopt this course of treatment immediately. She at first lacked the depravity indispensable to shutting me up in mental darkness. It was at least necessary for her to have some training in the exercise of irresponsible power, to make her equal to the task of treating me as though I were a brute. end public domain text

public domain text My mistress was, as I have said, a kind and tender-hearted woman; and in the simplicity of her soul she commenced, when I first went to live with her, to treat me as she supposed one human being ought to treat another. In entering upon the duties of a slaveholder, she did not seem to perceive that I sustained to her the relation of a mere chattel, and that for her to treat me as a human being was not only wrong, but dangerously so. Slavery proved as injurious to her as it did to me. When I went there, she was a pious, warm, and tender-hearted woman. There was no sorrow or suffering for which she had not a tear. She had bread for the hungry, clothes for the naked, and comfort for every mourner that came within her reach. Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of these heavenly qualities. Under its influence, the tender heart became stone, and the lamblike disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness. The first step in her downward course was in her ceasing to instruct me. She now commenced to practise her husband’s precepts. She finally became even more violent in her opposition than her husband himself. end public domain text

annotated text Douglass describes in detail a person in his life and his relationship to her. He uses specific diction to describe her kindness and to help readers get to know her—a “tear” for the “suffering”; “bread for the hungry, clothes for the naked, and comfort for every mourner.” end annotated text

public domain text She was not satisfied with simply doing as well as he had commanded; she seemed anxious to do better. Nothing seemed to make her more angry than to see me with a newspaper. She seemed to think that here lay the danger. I have had her rush at me with a face made all up of fury, and snatch from me a newspaper, in a manner that fully revealed her apprehension. She was an apt woman; and a little experience soon demonstrated, to her satisfaction, that education and slavery were incompatible with each other. end public domain text

annotated text The fact that Douglass can understand the harm caused by the institution of slavery to slaveholders as well as to enslaved people shows a level of sophistication in thought, identifies the complexity and detriment of this historical period, and demonstrates an acute awareness of the rhetorical situation, especially for his audience for this text. The way that he articulates compassion for the slaveholders, despite their ill treatment of him, would create empathy in his readers and possibly provide a revelation for his audience. end annotated text

public domain text From this time I was most narrowly watched. If I was in a separate room any considerable length of time, I was sure to be suspected of having a book, and was at once called to give an account of myself. All this, however, was too late. The first step had been taken. Mistress, in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch , and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell . end public domain text

annotated text Once again, Douglass underscores the value that literacy has for transforming the lived experiences of enslaved people. The reference to the inch and the ell circles back to Mr. Auld’s warnings and recalls the impact of that moment on his life. end annotated text

public domain text The plan which I adopted, and the one by which I was most successful, was that of making friends of all the little white boys whom I met in the street. As many of these as I could, I converted into teachers. With their kindly aid, obtained at different times and in different places, I finally succeeded in learning to read. When I was sent of errands, I always took my book with me, and by going one part of my errand quickly, I found time to get a lesson before my return. I used also to carry bread with me, enough of which was always in the house, and to which I was always welcome; for I was much better off in this regard than many of the poor white children in our neighborhood. This bread I used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who, in return, would give me that more valuable bread of knowledge. I am strongly tempted to give the names of two or three of those little boys, as a testimonial of the gratitude and affection I bear them; but prudence forbids;—not that it would injure me, but it might embarrass them; for it is almost an unpardonable offence to teach slaves to read in this Christian country. end public domain text

annotated text Douglass comments on the culture of the time, which still permitted slavery; he is sensitive to the fact that these boys might be embarrassed by their participation in unacceptable, though humanitarian, behavior. His audience will also recognize the irony in his tone when he writes that it is “an unpardonable offense to teach slaves . . . in this Christian country.” Such behavior is surely “unchristian.” end annotated text

public domain text It is enough to say of the dear little fellows, that they lived on Philpot Street, very near Durgin and Bailey’s ship-yard. I used to talk this matter of slavery over with them. I would sometimes say to them, I wished I could be as free as they would be when they got to be men. “You will be free as soon as you are twenty-one, but I am a slave for life ! Have not I as good a right to be free as you have?” These words used to trouble them; they would express for me the liveliest sympathy, and console me with the hope that something would occur by which I might be free. end public domain text

annotated text Douglass pursues and attains literacy not only for his own benefit; his knowledge also allows him to begin to instruct, as well as advocate for, those around him. Douglass’s use of language and his understanding of the rhetorical situation give the audience evidence of the power of literacy for all people, round out the arc of his narrative, and provide a resolution. end annotated text

Discussion Questions

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Collection Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress

In his own words.

To understand Frederick Douglass, his struggles, and the times he lived in, one must read about his life in his own words. Below are links to complete online texts of all three Douglass autobiographies. Two have been part of online collections at the Library of Congress; one is provided by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries.

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is the 1849 edition of Douglass's first autobiography, originally published in 1845. The electronic edition was originally created as part of the American Memory online collection The Capital and the Bay: Narratives of Washington and the Chesapeake Bay Region, ca. 1600-1925.

My Bondage and My Freedom External is Douglass's expanded autobiography first published in 1855. The 1857 edition appears as part of The Nineteenth Century in Print, an American Memory collection in collaboration with the University of Michigan's Making of America

The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass External is Douglass's final autobiography, first published in 1881. This electronic edition is from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries' Documenting the American South External digitization project, created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

61 pages • 2 hours read

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Preface-Introduction

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Chapters 4-7

Chapters 8-11

Key Figures

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Compare the Preface and Introduction that precede Douglass’s memoir . Why do you think they are included, and what roles do they each serve?

Douglass argues that education is an essential step to freedom. Describe how he learned to read and write, and how this enabled his journey toward freedom.

Douglass argues that slavery damages Black people but is also corrosive to white society. What evidence does he use to support this argument?

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By Frederick Douglass

Life and Times of Frederick Douglass

My Bondage and My Freedom

What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?

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Lesson Plan: Extension - Frederick Douglass' "Narrative" and Beyond

Reaction to frederick douglass' writing.

Author and Historian Edna Greene Medford discussed the reaction to Frederick Douglass' description of slavery in his writing.

Description

Born into slavery in Maryland, Frederick Douglass went on to become a writer, orator, statesman and key leader in the abolitionist movement. After his escape to freedom as an adult, Douglass in 1845 wrote the first of his three autobiographies, titled "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave." The book was a best seller, and greatly influential in promoting the cause of abolition. In this lesson, designed by Jocelyn Chadwick and John Grassie, students extend their learning and do a deep dive from the text into historical and contemporary themes and ideas.

This lesson offers several options for you to use with your students whether you are teaching in class, using a hybrid model, or engaging through distance learning. It can be completed in steps as a class or students can move at their own pace and complete the activities independently.

You can post links to the resources in the lesson and engage in discussion to share responses on a discussion board or learning management system.

Teacher Guide: Strategies and Resources (Google Doc).

Video Segment: Frederick Douglass and Beyond: Words of Wisdom, Strength, and Vision for All Americans (1818-1838) (YouTube).

INTRODUCTION

Play the following video clip in which author and historian Edna Greene Medford discusses the reaction to Frederick Douglass' description of slavery in his writing. Direct your students to answer the related prompt and share their findings with a partner, small group, or the class when finished.

Video Clip: Reaction to Frederick Douglass' Writing (1:53).

• How does Edna Greene Medford describe Douglass' writing about slavery?

To teach the themes of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave and its connections to historical and contemporary people and issues, use one or more of the following strategies.

For more details about Douglass, the time period, the text itself, potential challenges in teaching the text, and relevant connections to the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, consult the Teacher Guide: Strategies and Resources (Google Doc).

A. Three Slave Narratives/Autobiographies

• “Narrative”
• My Bondage and My Freedom (1855)
• Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881)

B. Comparison/Contrast Echoes - Continuing the Call for American Freedom and Independence for All - Paine and Douglass

What makes Douglass’ “Narrative” not only relative but also resonate to this moment in time lies with how his words and thoughts still live well-beyond his time and space.

Select a passage from the narrative that speaks to you, makes you want to ask more questions or explore more deeply into a thought or position, or want to know more about Douglass’ determined statements.

Share out with class for further conversation and exploration.

C. Personal Narratives - Written and Spoken

Now that you have experienced both personal 19th century slave narratives and Frederick Douglass’ “Narrative,” along with names of those who “spoke” their narratives - as a class, think about and discuss the importance of these narratives and the individuals , including the freedmen/women who chose not only to share their life experience, but also joined the abolitionist movement to help other slaves escape to freedom.

Next, consider a chronicle of your life from beginning to present. How would you begin to think about, arrange, and write an autobiography that describes and introduces you to an audience of your choice: a friend, family member(s), a stranger you just met, or an audience who wants to hear about you.

Remember: (1) Your audience, (2) Your purpose/your why (in other words, why should an audience care and want to listen/read?), and (3) Your occasion (to inform, to reveal, to expose, to inspire, or to compare/contrast).

Share your narratives with class for exploration and discussion in an oral extension.

D. Description - Freedom

What does the word freedom mean to you? This “Narrative,” as well as those Douglass subsequently wrote, defined freedom and its import from his perspectives - as both slave and freedman.

In your own words - or, in a visual project - create your understanding and definition of the word.

This activity is a great one to share not only with the class, but if students want to create visual explanations, they may want to share their work with the school, or have an exhibit where parents and community could attend.

Additional Resources:

• Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s poem: “ Learning to Read ” (1872).
• Bill of Sale - Hannah (see Teacher Guide)

E. What Do YOU Think? (verisimilitude)

Read Douglass’ “A Parody” and write an essay, explaining whether you agree or disagree with his argument.

Remember to examine his examples, definitions, specific points, illustrations, manipulation of words/repetition/syntax, comparison/contrast, as well as word choice and syntax. Don’t forget to include: What did I learn that I did not know before reading the parody ?

Share essays with class and explore the variety or points of views each essay presents.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCES

These resources will allow and encourage students and educators to peer even more deeply into a time in our country that was traumatic, divided, courageous and cowardly, sensitive and insensitive, and monumental.

• C-SPAN - Books That Shaped America : Frederick Douglass’ Narrative in the Life of Frederick Douglass
• Library of Congress: Frederick Douglass: Chronology - 1818-1891
• Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1938 - Developed and designed by President Roosevelt, the Federal Writers Project was part of a larger project and outreach, the Works Progress Administration. The FWP sought to give voice and visibility and identity to the freed women and men in their own words and descriptions. As each person related each narrative, a member of the FWP transcribed—in both written and sometimes recording—regional dialect and expression were replicated as each person shared.
• Google Arts and Culture: Frederick Douglass from Slavery to Freedom: the Journey to New York City; “Concert is Power” Part 1 and “Concert is Power” Part 2 - Free Black Movements in Antebellum Chicago
• The Atlantic Monthly - “ Frederick Douglass ”
• Frederick Douglass: Women’s Suffrage - 1888 DC
• The Atlantic - Frederick Douglass Articles
• Anna Julia Cooper: “ Women’s Cause Is One and Universal ”
• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “ The Other America ”
• Attorney General Ashcroft: Prepared Remarks of Attorney General Ashcroft 50th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education , DOJ Great Hall - Washington, D.C., May 13, 2004
• Statement by President George W. Bush (2 June 2020, referencing the murder of George Floyd)
• Barack Obama: as Frederick Douglass once stated: "Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will."
• Mark Twain Recommendation Letter to Pres. Garfield ( handwritten and transcription ; University of Virginia Library—Papers of Mark Twain 1862-1946)
• Abraham Lincoln: Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln
• Langston Hughes: “Simple Arithmetic,” in The Return of Simple (p. 166.) Internet Archives
• Hearing Frederick Douglass: His Speech on John Brown , June 15, 2020
• Frederick Douglass Papers and Biographical Chronology (Library of Congress)
• Freedom Rising: Remembering the Abolition Movement (Google Arts and Culture)
• Site of Slavery: historic places, of trade, wealth, abolition [Britain] (Google Arts and Culture)
• The African American Odyssey: Free Blacks in the Antebellum Period (Library of Congress)
• Douglass’ and Mark Twain’s speeches regarding the 4th of July: “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” (1852) and “Independence Day” (1907). Note: the relevant passage that parallels Douglass begins “We have, however, one Fourth of July which is absolutely our own, and that is that great proclamation issued forty years ago by that great American to whom Sir Mortimer Durand paid that just and beautiful tribute—Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln's proclamation, which not only set the black slaves free, but set the white man free also. … That proclamation set them all free.”

Related Articles

• Frederick Douglass (Britannica)
• Frederick Douglass and Beyond: Words of Wisdom, Strength, and Vision for All Americans (1818-1838) (YouTube)

Additional Resources

• Video Clip: Frederick Douglass House
• Bell Ringer: The Civil Rights Act of 1875 and the Civil Rights Cases of 1883
• Bell Ringer: Life and Legacy of Frederick Douglass
• Lesson Plan: Book That Shaped America - "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass"
• C-SPAN Podcast: Life of Frederick Douglass
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (Books That Shaped America)
• Frederick Douglass

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Introduction

Frederick douglass’ main arguments against slavery, conclusion: the basis of the argument, works cited.

In the history of America as a nation, there lies the dark truth about slavery that has left scars in those that suffered its effects. To the then perpetrators of slavery, the whites, it has left a shameful mark that America will ever live to regret of.

This essay focuses on a narrative by Frederick Douglass who was formerly a slave. The narrative shows the negativity of slavery and its consequential effects, and champions for its abolishment. The book, ‘ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass’ is both an indictment of slavery and a call to action for its abolition (Lecture Notes 1).

Douglass writes the narrative out of experience in slavery. He states that slavery is the worst thing that ever happened to America and has its effects even in this present age. His narration is with a deep sigh of regret as to why he had to pass through that especially when he was very young.

The death and separation from his mother at a very tender age saddens him very much. He is believed to have had a white father, a fact that acts as a proof of some negative things that the slaves had to experience. This in itself explains that the slaves, especially the women suffered rape from the slave holders who took them in by force (Douglass, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” 1).

Douglass had to witness the whipping of his aunt, a thing that he looks back with great pity. The slaves were brutally treated, being beaten day in day out with no good reason. They had to do donkeys work with an accompaniment of strokes.

The description given by Douglass to the torturous treatment of the slaves clearly shows his hatred and condemnation of slavery together with those who practiced it. A description of how the slaves operated especially when they interacted with their masters is also given. They had a lot of inferiority complex due to the ill treatment they received from the white people.

They therefore walked in a lot of fear to the brutal masters. They literally feared the whites since they had no say before them (Murrin 98). For instance, the slaves were seen to be liars even if they told the truth. This worsened the situation of the slaves since they felt segregated. The fear therefore acted as a tool that protected the slaves from brutality and even death (Douglass “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” 1).

Douglass critically outlines the several events of extreme brutality to the slaves. They were being treated as beasts yet they were human beings just like the whites. This is very inhuman since every human being has a right which they should freely enjoy. Everybody should have the right to learn freely but this opportunity is denied to the slaves. The slave holders argued that the slaves should not at all know how to read or write.

They ought not to even know how to read the Bible which is God’s Word. It is so ironical since God intends that all should read and know his Word but the slaves are denied that chance. They give the reason that their knowledge from reading or writing will disqualify them as slaves. Slavery is therefore portrayed by Douglass as a crime and its perpetrators ought to face justice. For instance, Douglass narrates his story when he moved to Baltimore.

He was happy of this because he knew that it was an end to the life of slavery. It marked a new beginning in his life but on the contrary, his efforts to learn even the simple alphabets are watered down by a White man who believed that the slaves would lose their positions by reading, and especially the Bible.

The slaves were also treated among the property that a slave holder owned alongside things like livestock. This is a thing that makes Douglass to once more completely hate slavery. This is because when his master died, Douglass together with the other slaves was left and they were all to be divided between the late master’s son and daughter as assets left for inheritance. Douglass’ hatred towards this kind of treatment reveals that the act is bad and not fit for human beings.

The slaves were also denied food on some occasion by their masters. Douglass reveals this when he narrates showing his happiness when he was lent out to another white man since he was sure of being fed. It implies that he received no food from his initial master despite the fact that he worked so hard throughout (Douglass, “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro” 1).

At the new master’s home, his expectations are thwarted. He works under tough conditions and does heavy tasks with little appreciation. As if that is not enough, he receives whips almost every day just because he is a slave. The suffering he undergoes day in day out makes him even collapse in the fields while working. This makes him to reach the point of no return.

He therefore chooses to heat back by engaging his master in a fight. All this that transpires is a clear indication that Douglass completely hated slavery and was a campaigner of its abolition. After such a long time of perseverance, the heating back at his master shows that he seeks revenge against the perpetrators of slavery. It shows that he is willing and very ready to do anything to abolish and totally terminate the reign of this inhuman practice.

This is further supported by the efforts of Douglass together with other friends to escape from the plantation where they were all slaves. Unfortunately, they are seized and for this reason, Douglass is jailed.

This is a sign of self sacrifice in order to see to it that slavery has been totally abolished. He risks his life to the point of even going to jail (Douglass, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” 1).

Douglass’ efforts to resist slavery simply showed that the abolition of this dehumanizing character is possible. This is evidenced by the response of the slave master who was torturing Douglass until he fought back. The slave master stopped whipping Douglass after the fight. The slavery can end if there will be people who are bold enough to resist it. This is the message that is seemingly being passed across.

Douglass was proving the fact that the slave masters will give in to pressure against slavery if the activists against slavery do not give up in their struggle for freedom. This is further supported by Douglass’ final success to freedom. He at last managed to escape from the slave rule with the help of some of his friends. With a combined effort, it is very possible to terminate slave rule or such like types of torture in any given society (Murrin 103).

Douglass brings out his arguments in the narrative very clearly proving that slave practice is a crime which should be abolished. He bases his argument on the platforms of both religion and morality. In his speech dubbed the ‘The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro’, Douglass says it is acknowledged that the slave is a being who can be trusted with responsibility, he is moral and intellectual.

This proves the moral grounds that Douglass takes a stand on to argue out his facts. He says that the manhood of one who is a slave is agreed upon meaning that it is a global agreement that slaves are human beings like any other despite the race (Douglass, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” 1).

On religious grounds, Douglass brings out his arguments using the story of the Bible where the children of Israel had been taken into exile by the Babylonians. The Israelites lament when they remember their home city Zion and refuse to sing a song in this foreign land contrary to what those who had taken them captive expected.

This marks their grief about their captivity. Douglass thus compares this with the situation that faced them as slaves in the land that was not their own too, as he tries to explain to his audience what encompassed them as slaves. He sides with God and other slaves are wounded to condemn the slavery perpetuators, something that is both sinful and shameful. This clearly points out the religious ground that Douglass bases some of his argument (Douglass, “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro” 1).

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. 2011. Web.

Douglass, Frederick. The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro. 5 Jul. 1852. Web. < http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/douglassjuly4.html >.

Murrin, John, et al. Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People. Vol. 1- 1877. 5th ed. Boston, MA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2008. Print.

Lecture Notes.

• Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass - An American Slave
• Role of Quakers in the Abolitionist Movement
• Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs
• The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
• Frederick Douglass and His Fight for Slaves Rights
• Frederick Douglas biography study
• History of Western Europe in the 17th -18th Century
• American History: Colonists of New England and Chesapeake
• The American Revolution and Independence Day Celebration
• American West, 1860-1900
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2018, August 15). Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. https://ivypanda.com/essays/narrative-of-the-life-of-frederick-douglass/

"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass." IvyPanda , 15 Aug. 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/narrative-of-the-life-of-frederick-douglass/.

IvyPanda . (2018) 'Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass'. 15 August.

IvyPanda . 2018. "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass." August 15, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/narrative-of-the-life-of-frederick-douglass/.

1. IvyPanda . "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass." August 15, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/narrative-of-the-life-of-frederick-douglass/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass." August 15, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/narrative-of-the-life-of-frederick-douglass/.

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Frederick Douglass Resources

Posted by gilder lehrman staff on monday, 02/04/2019.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute is fortunate to have several original Frederick Douglass documents in its Collection and has amassed many scholarly responses to the life and work of the escaped enslaved man turned abolitionist leader.

The Primary Source Spotlight shines on several of Frederick Douglass’s letters:

• In 1860, Frederick Douglass wrote to his former owner to say he loved him but hated slavery.
• In 1870, Douglass wrote to Thomas Burnett Pugh, a former abolitionist about the racism he encountered in the North .
• In 1880, Douglass wrote a tribute to Abraham Lincoln.
• In 1887, Douglass attacked the unwritten new laws of the South and the Jim Crow laws that continued to marginialize and oppress African Americans.
• In 1888, Douglass wrote about the disfranchisement of black voters .

In “Frederick Douglass at 200,” the winter of 2018 issue of  History Now , the online journal of the Gilder Lehrman Institute, we featured five major articles by leading scholars in celebration of Douglass’s 200th birthday.

You can also find additional essays about significant events in and documents from Frederick Douglass’s life:

• “ Your Late Lamented Husband ”: A Letter from Frederick Douglass to Mary Todd Lincoln from 1865, explored in an essay by David W. Blight
• Admiration and Ambivalence: Frederick Douglass and John Brown , an essay by David W. Blight focusing on correspondence between Douglass and other abolitionists , detailing the relationship between Douglass and Brown in the leadup to and aftermath of Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry.
• “The Merits of This Fearful Conflict”: Douglass on the Causes of the Civil War , an essay by David W. Blight focusing on Douglass’s remarks at Arlington National Cemetery in 1871 , reminding the assembled listeners that the Confederacy had fought the Civil War to preserve slavery.
• “Hidden Practices”: Frederick Douglass on Segregation and Black Achievement, 1887 , an essay by Edward L. Ayers focusing on Douglass’s letter to an unknown recipient from 1887 about the struggle in the South.

You can learn more about the former slave, abolitionist, and orator through one of our Online Exhibitions, “Frederick Douglass from Slavery to Freedom: The Journey to New York City” and “Activist for Equality: Frederick Douglass at 200.”

The Gilder Lehrman offers a Frederick Douglass Traveling Exhibition for education- or community-based organizations in the continental United States. Among the highlights are a broadside entitled Slave Market of America from the American Anti-Slavery Society, passages from Douglass’s first autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave , and a letter from Douglass to Hugh Auld, whose family held Douglass as a slave.

In partnership with the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University, the Institute awards the annual Frederick Douglass Book Prize of $25,000 for an outstanding nonfiction book in English on the subject of slavery, resistance, and/or abolition. 2018 was the 20th anniversary of the Prize, which has been awarded to co-winners Erica Armstrong Dunbar for Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge (37Ink/Atria Books) and Tiya Miles for The Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits (The New Press). The award ceremony will be held on February 28, 2019, at the Yale Club of New York City.

Stay up to date, and subscribe to our quarterly newsletter.

Learn how the Institute impacts history education through our work guiding teachers, energizing students, and supporting research.

Home — Essay Samples — History — Historical Figures — Frederick Douglass

Essays on Frederick Douglass

Hook examples for frederick douglass essays, "from chains to change: the remarkable journey of frederick douglass" hook.

"Frederick Douglass's life story is a testament to the power of education and resilience. Dive into the life of a former slave who became a prominent abolitionist and advocate for civil rights."

"Narrative of an American Slave: The Impact of Douglass's Autobiography" Hook

"Explore the profound influence of Frederick Douglass's narrative on the abolitionist movement and the fight against slavery in the United States."

"The Power of Words: Douglass's Oratory in the Fight for Freedom" Hook

"Frederick Douglass was not only a writer but also a powerful orator. Analyze the impact of his speeches on the antebellum society and their role in the abolitionist cause."

"The Narrative of Freedom: Douglass's Escape and Life as a Free Man" Hook

"Delve into the gripping account of Frederick Douglass's escape from slavery and his life as a free man. Explore the challenges and triumphs of his newfound freedom."

"Legacy of a Pioneer: Frederick Douglass's Contributions to Civil Rights" Hook

"Frederick Douglass's legacy extends far beyond his time. Examine how his activism paved the way for future civil rights leaders and his ongoing influence in the fight for equality."

"The Struggle Continues: Douglass's Relevance in the 21st Century" Hook

"Even in the 21st century, Frederick Douglass's writings and activism resonate. Discuss the enduring relevance of his work in addressing contemporary issues of racism and inequality."

A Rhetorical Analysis of The Autobiography of Frederick Douglass

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The Legitimization of Slavery and Frederick Douglass

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Analysis of Frederick Douglass’ Views on Slavery and Its Effects

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How Education Impacted Frederick Douglass's Life

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c. February 14, 1817

February 20, 1895 (aged about 78)

Abolitionist, suffragist, author, editor, diplomat

“Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”

Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born around 1818 into slavery in Talbot County, Maryland. At a young age, Douglass was selected to live in the home of the plantation owners. His mother, died when he was around 10.

In 1837, Douglass met and fell in love with Anna Murray, a free black woman, and they married in September 1838. After several failed attempts at escape, Douglass finally left Covey’s farm in 1838. In New Bedford, Douglass began attending meetings of the abolitionist movement.

In 1847, Douglass began publishing his own abolitionist newsletter, the North Star. Also, he became involved in the movement for women’s rights. Later, he included coverage of women’s rights issues in the pages of the North Star.

During the war he supported President Abraham Lincoln, after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, he fall into disagreement with the politician. In the post-war Reconstruction era, Douglass served in many official positions in government.

In 1895, Frederick Douglass died after suffering a heart attack on his way home from a meeting of the National Council of Women. His life’s work still serves as an inspiration to those who seek equality.

“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” “Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave.”

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Frederick Douglass Library Guide: Writings by Douglass

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“What to the Slave is The Fourth of July?”: Annotated

On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a Fourth of July speech that became his most famous public oration.

On Monday, July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a speech to the “ Ladies of the Rochester Anti-Slavery Sewing Society, ” which arguably became his most famous public oration. Rather than a celebration of the Independence Day holiday, Douglass asked an obvious, simple and damning question: What, to the slave, is the Fourth of July?

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Below is the speech, annotated with relevant scholarship that gives context to the historical moment in which Douglass spoke: the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin  a few months prior, and the violence of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law and Missouri Compromise. As always, the supporting JSTOR material is free to read and download.

_____________________________

ORATION, DELIVERED IN CORINTHIAN HALL, ROCHESTER, BY FREDERICK DOUGLASS, JULY 5TH, 1852.

Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens :

HE who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly more shrinkingly, nor with greater distrust of my ability, than I do this day. A feeling has crept over me, quite unfavorable to the exercise of my limited powers of speech. The task before me is one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper performance. I know that apologies of this sort are generally considered flat and unmeaning. I trust, however, that mine will not be so considered. Should I seem at ease, my appearance would much misrepresent me. The little experience I have had in addressing public meetings, in country school houses, avails me nothing on the present occasion.

The papers and placards say, that I am to deliver a 4th July oration. This certainly, sounds large, and out of the common way, for me. It is true that I have often had the privilege to speak in this beautiful Hall, and to address many who now honor me with their presence. But neither their familiar faces, nor the perfect gage I think I have of Corinthian Hall, seems to free me from embarrassment.

The fact is, ladies and gentlemen, the distance between this platform and the slave plantation, from which I escaped, is considerable–—and the difficulties to be overcome in getting from the latter to the former, are by no means slight. That I am here to-day, is, to me, a matter of astonishment as well as of gratitude. You will not, therefore, be surprised, if in what I have to say, I evince no elaborate preparation, nor grace my speech with any high sounding exordium. With little experience and with less learning, I have been able to throw my thoughts hastily and imperfectly together; and trusting to your patient and generous indulgence, I will proceed to lay them before you.

This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th of July. It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. It carries your minds back to the day, and to the act of your great deliverance; and to the signs, and to the wonders , associated with that act that day. This celebration also marks the beginning of another year of your national life; and reminds you that the Republic of America is now 76 years old. I am glad, fellow-citizens, that your nation is so young. Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. ‘Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. According to this fact, you are, even now only in the beginning of you national career, still lingering in the period of childhood. I repeat, I am glad this is so. There is hope in the thought, and hope is much needed, under the dark clouds which lower above the horizon. The eye of the reformer is met with angry flashes, portending disastrous times; but his heart may well beat lighter at the thought that America is young, and that she is still in the impressible stage of her existence. May he not hope that high lessons of wisdom, of justice and of truth, will yet give direction to her destiny? Were the nation older, the patriot’s heart might be sadder, and the reformer’s brow heavier. Its future might be shrouded in gloom, and the hope of its prophets go out in sorrow. There is consolation in the thought, that America is young.—Great streams are not easily turned from channels, worn deep in the course of ages. They may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. They may also rise in wrath and fury, and bear away, on their angry waves, the accumulated wealth of years of toil and hardship. They, however, gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenely as ever. But, while the river may not be turned aside, it may dry up, and leave nothing behind but the withered branch, and the unsightly rock, to howl in the abyss-sweeping wind, the sad tale of departed glory. As with rivers so with nations.

Fellow-citizens, I shall not presume to dwell at length on the associations that cluster about this day. The simple story of it is, that, 76 years ago, the people of this country were British subjects. The style and title of your “sovereign people” (in which you now glory) was not then born. You were under the British Crown. Your fathers esteemed the English Government as the home government and England as the fatherland. This home government, you know, although a considerable distance from your home, did, in the exercise of its parental prerogatives, impose upon its colonial children, such restraints, burdens and limitations, as, in its mature judgment, it deemed wise, right and proper.

But, your fathers, who had not adopted the fashionable idea of this day, of the infallibility of government, and the absolute character of its acts, presumed to differ from the home government in respect to the wisdom and the justice of some of those burdens and restraints. They went so far in their excitement as to pronounce the measures of government unjust, unreasonable, and oppressive, and altogether such as ought not to be quietly submitted to. I scarcely need say, fellow-citizens, that my opinion of those measures fully accords with that of your fathers. Such a declaration of agreement on my part, would not be worth much to anybody. It would, certainly, prove nothing, as to what part I might have taken, had I lived during the great controversy of 1776. To say now that America was right, and England wrong, is exceedingly easy. Everybody can say it; the dastard, not less than the noble brave, can flippantly discant on the tyranny of England towards the American Colonies. It is fashionable to do so; but there was a time when, to pronounce against England, and in favor of the cause of the colonies, tried men’s souls. They who did so were accounted in their day, plotters of mischief, agitators and rebels, dangerous men. To side with the right, against the wrong, with the weak against the strong, and with the oppressed against the oppressor! here lies the merit, and the one which, of all others, seems unfashionable in our day. The cause of liberty may be stabbed by the men who glory in the deeds of your fathers. But, to proceed.

Feeling themselves harshly and unjustly treated, by the home government, your fathers, like men of honesty, and men of spirit, earnestly sought redress. They petitioned and remonstrated; they did so in a decorous, respectful, and loyal manner. Their conduct was wholly unexceptionable. This, however, did not answer the purpose. They saw themselves treated with sovereign indifference, coldness and scorn. Yet they persevered. They were not the men to look back.

As the sheet anchor takes a firmer hold, when the ship is tossed by the storm, so did the cause of your fathers grow stronger, as it breasted the chilling blasts of kingly displeasure. The greatest and best of British statesmen admitted its justice, and the loftiest eloquence of the British Senate came to its support. But, with that blindness which seems to be the unvarying characteristic of tyrants, since Pharoah and his hosts were drowned in the Red sea, the British Government persisted in the exactions complained of.

The madness of this course, we believe, is admitted now, even by England; but , we fear the lesson is wholly lost on our present rulers.

Oppression makes a wise man mad. Your fathers were wise men, and if they did not go mad, they became restive under this treatment. They felt themselves the victims of grievous wrongs, wholly incurable in their colonial capacity. With brave men there is always a remedy for oppression. Just here, the idea of a total separation of the colonies from the crown was born! It was a startling idea, much more so, than we, at this distance of time, regard it. The timid and the prudent (as has been intimated) of that day, were, of course, shocked and alarmed by it.

Such people lived then, had lived before, and will, probably, ever have a place on this planet; and their course, in respect to any great change, (no matter how great the good to be attained, or the wrong to be redressed by it,) may be calculated with as much precision as can be the course of the stars. They hate all changes, but silver, gold and copper change! Of this sort of change they are always strongly in favor.

These people were called tories in the days of your fathers; and the appellation, probably, conveyed the same idea that is meant by a more modern, though a somewhat less euphonious term, which we often find in our papers, applied to some of our old politicians.

Their opposition to the then dangerous thought was earnest and powerful; but, amid all their terror and affrighted vociferations against it, the alarming and revolutionary idea moved on, and the country with it.

On the 2d of July, 1776, the old Continental Congress, to the dismay of the lovers of ease, and the worshippers of property, clothed that dreadful idea with all the authority of national sanction. They did so in the form of a resolution; and as we seldom hit upon resolutions, drawn up in our day, whose transparency is at all equal to this, it may refresh your minds and help my story if I read it.

Resolved, That these united colonies are, and of right, ought to be free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown; and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, dissolved.

Citizens, your fathers Made good that resolution. They succeeded; and to-day you reap the fruits of their success. The freedom gained is yours; and you, therefore, may properly celebrate this anniversary. The 4th of July is the first great fact in your nation’s history—the very ring-bolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destiny.

Pride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to celebrate and to hold it in perpetual remembrance. I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the RINGBOLT to the chain of your nation’s destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in. all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost.

From the round top of your ship of state, dark and threatening clouds may be seen. Heavy billows, like mountains in the distance, disclose to the leeward huge forms of flinty rocks! That bolt drawn, that chain , broken, and all is lost. Cling to this day—cling to it , and to its principles, with the grasp of a storm-tossed mariner to a spar at midnight.

The coining into being of a nation, in any circumstances, is an interesting event. But, besides general considerations, there were peculiar circumstances which make the advent of this republic an event of special attractiveness.

The whole scene, as I look back to it, was simple, dignified and sublime.

The population of the country, at the time, stood at the insignificant number of three millions. The country was poor in the munitions of war. The population was weak and scattered, and the country a wilderness unsubdued. There were then no means of concert and combination, such as exist now. Neither steam nor lightning had then been reduced to order and discipline. From the Potomac to the Delaware was a journey of many days. Under these, and innumerable other disadvantages, your fathers declared for liberty and independence and triumphed.

Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men too—great enough to give fame to a great age. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. The point from which I am compelled to view them is not, certainly the most favorable; and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. They were statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory.

They loved their country better than their own private interests; and, though this is not the highest form of human excellence, all will concede that it is a rare virtue, and that when it is exhibited, it ought to command respect. He who will, intelligently, lay down his life for his country, is a man whom it is not in human nature to despise. Your fathers staked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, on the cause of their country. In their admiration of liberty, they lost sight of all other interests.

They were peace men; but they preferred revolution to peaceful submission to bondage. They were quiet men; but they did not shrink from agitating against oppression. They showed forbearance; but that they knew its limits. They believed in order; but not in the order of tyranny. With them, nothing was “ settled ” that was not right. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were “ final ;” not slavery and oppression. You may well cherish the memory of such men. They were great in their day and generation. Their solid manhood stands out the more as we contrast it with these degenerate times.

How circumspect, exact and proportionate were all their movements! How unlike the politicians of an hour! Their statesmanship looked beyond the passing moment, and stretched away in strength into the distant future. They seized upon eternal principles, and set a glorious example in their defence. Mark them!

Fully appreciating the hardships to be encountered, firmly believing in the right of their cause, honorably inviting the scrutiny of an on-looking world, reverently appealing to heaven to attest their sincerity, soundly comprehending the solemn responsibility they were about to assume, wisely measuring the terrible odds against them, your fathers, the fathers of this republic, did, most deliberately, under the inspiration of a glorious patriotism, and with a sublime faith in the great principles of justice and freedom, lay deep, the corner-stone of the national super-structure, which has risen and still rises in grandeur around you.

Of this fundamental work, this day is the anniversary. Our eyes are met with demonstrations of joyous enthusiasm. Banners and pennants wave exultingly on the breeze. The din of business, too, is hushed. Even mammon seems to have quitted his grasp on this day. The ear-piercing fife and the stirring drum unite their accents with the ascending peal of a thousand church bells. Prayers are made, hymns are sung, and sermons are preached in honor of this day; while the quick martial tramp of a great and multitudinous nation, echoed back by all the hills, valleys and mountains of a vast continent, bespeak the occasion one of thrilling and universal interest—a nation’s jubilee.

Friends and citizens, I need not enter further into the causes which led to this anniversary. Many of you understand them better than I do. You could instruct me in regard to them. That is a branch of knowledge in which you feel, perhaps, a much deeper interest than your speaker. The causes which led to the separation of the colonies from the British crown have never lacked for a tongue. They have all been taught in your common schools, narrated at your firesides, unfolded from your pulpits, and thundered from your legislative halls, and are as familiar to you as household words. They form the staple of your national poetry and eloquence.

I remember, also, that, as a people, Americans are remarkably familiar with all facts which make in in their own favor. This is esteemed by some as a national trait—perhaps a national weakness. It is a fact, that whatever makes for the wealth or for the reputation of Americans, and can be had cheap! will be found by Americans. I shall not be charged with slandering Americans, if I say I think the Americans can side of any question may be safely left in American hands.

I leave, therefore, the great deeds of your fathers to other gentlemen whose claim to have been regularly descended will be less likely to be disputed than mine!

THE PRESENT.

My business, if I have any here to-day, is with the present. The accepted time with God and his cause is the ever-living now.

“Trust no future, however pleasant, 

Let the dead past bury its dead; 

Act, act in the living present, 

Heart within, and God overhead.”

We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future. To all inspiring motives, to noble deeds which can be gained from the past, we are welcome. But now is the time, the important time. Your fathers have lived, died, and have done their work, and have done much of it well. You live and must die, and you must do your work. You have no right to enjoy a child’s share in the labor of your fathers, unless your children are to be blest by your labors. You have no right to wear out and waste the hard-earned fame of your fathers to cover your indolence. Sydney Smith tells us that men seldom eulogize the wisdom and virtues of their fathers, but to excuse some folly or wickedness of their own. This truth is not a doubtful one. There are illustrations of it near and remote, ancient and modern. It was fashionable, hundreds of years ago, for the children of Jacob to boast, we have “Abraham to our father,” when they had long lost Abraham’s faith and spirit. That people contented themselves under the shadow of Abraham’s great name, while they repudiated the deeds which made his name great. Need I remind you that a similar thing is being done all over this country to-day? Need I tell you that the Jews are not the only people who built the tombs of the prophets, and garnished the sepulchres of the righteous? Washington could not die till he had broken the chains of his slaves. Yet his monument is built up by the price of human blood , and the traders in the bodies and souls of men, shout—”We have Washington to “ our father .”—Alas! that it should be so; yet so it is.

“The evil that men do, lives after them,

The good is oft interred with their bones.”

Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?

Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold, that a nation’s sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation’s jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the “lame man leap as an hart.”

But, such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common.—The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours , not mine . You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrecoverable ruin! I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people!

“ By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yea! we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there, they that carried us away captive, required of us a song; and they who wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? If I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.”

Fellow citizens; above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, “may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!” To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world. My subject, then, fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. I shall see, this day, and its popular characteristics, from the slave’s point of view. Standing, there, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July! Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the profes sions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery—the great sin and shame of America! “I will not equivocate; I will not excuse ;” I will use the severest language I can command; and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slaveholder, shall not confess to be right and just.

But I fancy I hear some one of my audience say, it is just in this circumstance that you and your brother abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. Would you argue more, and denounce less, would you persuade more, and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? That point is conceded already. Nobody doubts it. The slave-holders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia, which, if committed by a black man, (no matter how ignorant he be,) subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of the same crimes will subject a white man to the like punishment. —What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being. The manhood of the slave is conceded. It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read or to write.—When you can point to any such laws, in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute, then will I argue with you that the slave is a man

For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the negro race. Is it not astonishing that, while we are ploughing, planting and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver and gold; that, while we are reading, writing and cyphering, acting as clerks, merchants and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators and teachers; that, while we are engaged in all manner of enterprises common to other men, digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hillside, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives and children, and, above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian’s God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men!

Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? that he is the rightful owner of his own body? You have already declared it. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Is that a question for Republicans? Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to be understood? How should I look to-day, in the presence of Americans, dividing, and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to freedom? speaking of it relatively, and positively, negatively, and affirmatively. To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding.-There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, that does not know that slavery is wrong for him .

What, am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, is wrong ? No I will not. I have better employment for my time and strength, than such arguments would imply.

What, then, remains to be argued? Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? There is blasphemy in the thought. That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! Who can reason on such a proposition? They that can, may; I cannot. The time for such argument is past.

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. O! had I the ability, and could I reach the nation’s ear, I would, to day, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than. all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which lie is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.

Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the old world, travel through South America, search out every abuse , and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the every day practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.

THE INTERNAL SLAVE TRADE.

Take the American slave-trade, which we are told by the papers, is especially prosperous just now. Ex-Senator Benton tells us that the price of men was never higher than now. He mentions the fact to show that slavery is in no danger. This trade is one of the peculiarities of American institutions. It is carried on in all the large towns and cities in one half of this confederacy; and millions are pocketed every year, by dealers in this horrid traffic. In several states, this trade is a chief source of wealth. It is called (in contradistinction to the foreign slave-trade) “ the internal slave-trade .” It is, probably, called so, too, in order to divert from it the horror with which the foreign slave-trade is contemplated. That trade has long since been denounced by this government, as piracy. It has been denounced with burning words, from the high places of the nation, as an execrable traffic. To arrest it, to put an end to it, this nation keeps a squadron, at immense cost, on the coast of Africa. Everywhere, in this country, it is safe to speak of this foreign slave-trade, as a most inhuman traffic, opposed alike to the laws of God and of man. The duty to extirpate and destroy it, is admitted even by our DOCTORS OF DIVINITY. In order to put an end to it, some of these last have consented that their colored brethren (nominally free) should leave this country, and establish themselves on the western coast of Africa! It is, however, a notable fact, that, while so much execration is poured out by Americans, upon those engaged in the foreign slave-trade, the men engaged in the slave-trade between the states pass without condemnation, and their business is deemed honorable.

Behold the practical operation of this internal slave-trade, the American slave-trade, sustained by American politics and American religion. Here you will see men and women, reared like swine, for the market. You know what is a swine-drover? I will show you a man-drover. They inhabit all our Southern States. They perambulate the country, and crowd the highways of the nation, with droves of human stock. You will see one of these human flesh jobbers, armed with pistol, whip and bowie-knife, driving a company of a hundred men, women, and children, from the Potomac to the slave market at New Orleans. These wretched people are to be sold singly, or in lots, to suit purchasers. They are food for the cotton-field, and the deadly sugar-mill. Mark the sad procession, as it moves wearily along, and the inhuman wretch who drives them. Hear his savage yells and his blood-chilling oaths, as he hurries on his affrighted captives! There, see the old man, with locks thinned and gray. Cast one glance, if you please, upon that young mother, whose shoulders are bare to the scorching sun, her briny tears falling on the brow of the babe in her arms. See, too, that girl of thirteen, weeping, yes ! weeping, as she thinks of the mother from whom she has been torn! The drove moves tardily. Heat and sorrow have nearly consumed their strength; suddenly you hear a quick snap, like the discharge of a rifle; the fetters clank, and the chain rattles simultaneously; your ears are saluted with a scream, that seems to have torn its way to the centre of your soul! The crack you heard, was the sound of the slave-whip; the scream you heard, was from the woman you saw with the babe. Her speed had faltered under the weight of her child and her chains! that gash on her shoulder tells her to move on. Follow this drove to New Orleans. Attend the auction; see men examined like horses; see the forms of women rudely and brutally exposed to the shocking gaze of American slave-buyers. See this drove sold and separated forever; and never forget the deep, sad sobs that arose from that scattered multitude. Tell me citizens, WHERE, under the sun, you can witness a spectacle more fiendish and shocking. Yet this is but a. glance at the American slave-trade, as it exists, at this moment, in the ruling part of the United States.

I was born amid such sights and scenes. To me the American slave-trade is a terrible reality. When a child, my soul was often pierced with a sense of its horrors. I lived on Philpot Street, Fell’s Point, Baltimore, and have watched from the wharves, the slave ships in the Basin, anchored from the shore, with their cargoes of human flesh, waiting for favorable winds to waft them down the Chesapeake. There was, at that time, a grand slave mart kept at the head of Pratt Street, by Austin Woldfolk. His agents were sent into every town and county in Maryland, announcing their arrival, through the papers, and on flaming “ hand-bills ,” headed CASH FOR NEGROES. These men were generally well dressed men, and very captivating in their manners. Ever ready to drink, to treat, and to gamble. The fate of many a slave has depended upon the turn of a single card; and many a child has been snatched from the arms of its mother, by bargains arranged in a state of brutal drunkenness.

The flesh-mongers gather up their victims by dozens, and drive them, chained, to the general depot at Baltimore. When a sufficient number have been collected here, a ship is chartered, for the purpose of conveying the forlorn crew to Mobile, or to New Orleans. From the slave prison to the ship, they are usually driven in the darkness of night; for since the anti-slavery agitation, a certain caution is observed.

In the deep still darkness of midnight, I have been often aroused by the dead heavy footsteps, and the pitious cries of the chained gangs that passed our door. The anguish of my boyish heart was intense; and I was often consoled, when speaking to my mistress in the morning, to hear her say that the custom was very wicked; that she hated to hear the rattle of the chains, and the heart-rending cries. I was glad to find one who sympathised with me in my horror.

Fellow-citizens, this murderous traffic is, to-day, in active operation in this boasted republic. In the solitude of my spirit, I see clouds of dust raised on the highways of the South; I see the bleeding footsteps; I hear the doleful wail of fettered humanity, on the way to the slave-markets, where the victims are to be sold like horses , sheep , and swine , knocked off to the highest bidder. There I see the tenderest ties ruthlessly broken, to gratify the lust, caprice and rapacity of the buyers and sellers of men. My soul sickens at the sight.

“Is this the land your Fathers loved, 

The freedom which they toiled to win? 

Is this the earth whereon they moved? 

Are these the graves they slumber in?” 

But a still more inhuman, disgraceful, and scandalous state of things remains to be presented.

By an act of the American Congress, not yet two years old, slavery has been nationalized in its most horrible and revolting form. By that act, Mason & Dixon’s line has been obliterated; New York has become as Virginia; and the power to hold, hunt, and sell men, women and childreH, as slaves, remains no longer a mere state institution, but is now an institution of the whole United States. The power is co-extensive with the star-spangled banner, and American Christianity. Where these go, may also go the merciless slave-hunter. Where these are, man is not sacred. He is a bird for the sportsman’s gun./ By that most foul and fiendish of all human decrees, the liberty and person of every man are put in peril. Your broad republican domain is hunting ground for men . Not for thieves and robbers, enemies of society, merely, but for men guilty of no crime. Your law-makers have commanded all good citizens to engage in this hellish sport. Your President, your Secretary of State, your lords , nobles , and ecclesiastics, enforce, as a duty you owe to your free and glorious country, and to your God, that you do this accursed thing. Not fewer than forty Americans, have, within the past two years, been hunted down, and, without a moment’s warning, hurried away in chains, and consigned to slavery, and excruciating torture. Some of these have had wives and children, dependent on them for bread; but of this, no account was made. The right of the hunter to his prey, stands superior to the right of marriage, and to all rights in this republic, the rights of God included! For black men there are neither law, justice, humanity, nor religion.

The Fugitive Slave Law makes MERCY TO THEM, A CRIME; and bribes the judge who tries them. An American JUDGE GETS TEN DOLLARS FOR EVERY VICTIM HE CONSIGNS to slavery, and five, when he fails to do so. The oath of any two villains is sufficient, under this hell-black enactment, to send the most pious and exemplary black man into the remorseless jaws of slavery! His own testimony is nothing. He can bring no witnesses for himself. The minister of American justice is bound, by the law to hear but one side; and that side, is the side of the oppressor. Let this damning fact be perpetually told. Let it be thundered around the world, that, in tyrant-killing, king-hating, people-loving, democratic, Christian America, the seats of justice are filled with judges, who hold their offices under an open and palpable bribes , and are bound, in deciding in the case of a man’s liberty, to hear only his accusers !

In glaring violation of justice, in shameless disregard of the forms of administering law, in cunning arrangement to entrap the defenceless, and in diabolical intent, this Fugitive Slave Law stands alone in the annals of tyrannical legislation. I doubt if there be another nation on the globe, having the brass and the baseness to put such a law on the statute-book. If any man in this assembly thinks differently from me in this matter, and feels able to disprove my statements, I will gladly confront him at any suitable time and place he may select.

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.

I take this law to be one of the grossest infringements of Christian Liberty, and, if the churches and ministers of our country were not stupidly blind, or most wickedly indifferent, they, too, would so regard it.

At the very moment that they are thanking God for the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, and for the right to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, they are utterly silent in respect to a law which robs religion of its chief significance, and makes it utterly worthless to a world lying in wickedness. Did this law concern the “mint, anise and cummin” —abridge the right to sing psalms, to partake of the sacrament, or to engage in any of the ceremonies of religion, it would be smitten by the thunder of a thousand pulpits. A general shout would go up from the church, demanding repeal, repeal, instant repeal! —And it would go hard with that politician who presumed to solicit the votes of the people without inscribing this motto on his banner. Further, if this demand were not complied with, another Scotland would be added to the history of religious liberty, and the stern old covenanters would be thrown into the shade. A John Knox would be seen at every church door, and heard from every pulpit, and Fillmore would have no more quarter than was shown by Knox, to the beautiful, but treacherous Queen Mary of Scotland.—The fact that the church of our country, (with fractional exceptions,) does not esteem “the Fugitive Slave Law” as a declaration of war against religious liberty, implies that that church regards religion simply as a form of worship, an empty ceremony, and not a vital principle, requiring active benevolence, justice, love and good will towards man. It esteems sacrifice above mercy; psalm-singing above right doing; solemn meetings above practical righteousness. A worship that can be conducted by persons who refuse to give shelter to the houseless, to give bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked, and who enjoin obedience to a law forbidding these acts of mercy, is a curse, not a blessing to mankind. The Bible addresses all such persons as “scribes, pharisees, hypocrites, who pay tithe of mint , anise , and cummin , and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith.”

THE CHURCH RESPONSIBLE.

But the church of this country is not only indifferent to the wrongs of the slave, it actually takes sides with the oppressors. It has made itself the bulwark of American slavery, and the shield of American slave-hunters. Many of its most eloquent Divines, who stand as the very lights of the church, have shamelessly given the sanction of religion, and the bible, to the whole slave system.—They have taught that man may, properly, be a slave; that the relation of master and slave is ordained of God; that to send back an escaped bondman to his master is clearly the duty of all the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ; and this horrible blasphemy is palmed off upon the world for christianity.

For my part, I would say, welcome infidelity! welcome atheism! welcome anything! in preference to the gospel, as preached by those Divines! They convert the very name of religion into an engine of tyranny, and barbarous cruelty, and serve to confirm more infidels, in this age, than all the infidel writings of Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and Bolingbroke, put together, have done? These ministers make religion a cold and flinty-hearted thing, having neither principles of right action, nor bowels of compassion. They strip the love of God of its beauty, and leave the throne of religion a huge, horrible, repulsive form. It is a religion for oppressors, tyrants, man-stealers, and thugs . It is not that “ pure and undefiled religion ” which is from above, and which is “ first pure, then peaceable, easy to be entreated , full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy .” But a religion which favors the rich against the poor; which exalts the proud above the humble; which divides mankind into two classes, tyrants and slaves; which says to the man in chains, stay there ; and to the oppressor, oppress on ; it is a religion which may be professed and enjoyed by all the robbers and enslavers of mankind; it makes God a respecter of persons, denies his fatherhood of the race, and tramples in the dust the great truth of the brotherhood of man. All this we affirm to be true of the popular church, and the popular worship of our land and nation—a religion, a church and a worship which, on the authority of inspired wisdom, we pronounce to be an abomination in the sight of God. In the language of Isaiah, the American church might be well addressed, “ Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me : the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons, and your appointed feasts my soul hatest. They are a trouble to me; I am weary to bear them; and when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you. Yea! when ye make many prayers, I will not hear. YOUR HANDS ARE FULL OF BLOOD; cease to do evil, learn to do well; seek judgment; relieve the oppressed; judge for the fatherless; plead for the widow .”

The American church is guilty, when viewed in connection with what it is doing to uphold slavery; but it is superlatively guilty when viewed in connection with its ability to abolish slavery.

The sin of which it is guilty is one of omission as well as of commission. Albert Barnes but uttered what the common sense of every man at all observant of the actual state of the case will receive as truth, when he declared that “ There is no power out of the church that could sustain slavery an hour, if it were not sustained in it. ”

Let the religious press, the pulpit, the sunday school, the conference meeting, the great ecclesiastical, missionary, bible and tract associations of the land array their immense powers against slavery, and slave-holding; and the whole system of crime and blood would be scattered to the winds, and that they do not do this involves them in the most awful responsibility of which the mind can conceive.

In prosecuting the anti-slavery enterprise, we have been asked to spare the church, to spare the ministry; but how , we ask, could such a thing be done? We are met on the threshold of our efforts for the redemption of the slave, by the church. and ministry of the country, in battle arrayed against us; and we are compelled to fight or flee. From what quarter, I beg to know, has proceeded a fire so deadly upon our ranks, during the last two years, as from the Northern pulpit? As the champions of oppressors, the chosen men of American theology have appeared—men, honored for their so called piety, and their real learning. The LORDS of Buffalo, the SPRINGS of New York, the LATHROPS of Auburn, the COXES and SPENCERS of Brooklyn, the GANNETS and SHARPS of Boston, the DEWEYS of Washington, and other great religious lights of the land, have, in utter denial of the authority of Him , by whom they professed to be called to the ministry, deliberately taught us, against the example of the Hebrews, and against the remonstrance of the Apostles, they teach that we ought to obey man’s law before the law of God. ” [ sic ]

My spirit wearies of such blasphemy; and how such men can be supported, as the “standing types and representatives of Jesus Christ,” is a mystery which I leave others to penetrate. In speaking of the American church, however, let it be distinctly understood that I mean the great mass of the religious organizations of our land. There are exceptions, and I thank God that there are. Noble men may be found, scattered all over these Northern States, of whom Henry Ward Beecher, of Brooklyn, Samuel J. May, of Syracuse, and my esteemed friend* on the platform, are shining examples; and let me say further, that, upon these men lies the duty to inspire our ranks with high religious faith and zeal, and to cheer us on in the great mission of the slave’s redemption from his chains.

RELIGION IN ENGLAND AND RELIGION IN AMERICA.

One is struck with the difference between the attitude of the American church towards the anti-slavery movement, and that occupied by the churches in England towards a similar movement in that country. There, the church, true to its mission of ameliorating, elevating, and improving the condition of mankind, came forward promptly, bound up the wounds of the West Indian slave, and restored him to his liberty. There, the question of emancipation was a high religious question. It was demanded, in the name of humanity, and according to the law of the living God. The Sharps, the Clarksons, the Wilberforces, the Buxtons, the Burchells and the Knibbs, were alike famous for their piety, and for their philanthropy. The anti-slavery movement there , was not an anti-church movement, for the reason that the church took its full share in prosecuting that movement : and the anti-slavery movement in this country will cease to be an anti-church movement, when the church of this country shall assume a favorable, instead of a hostile position towards that movement.

Americans! your republican politics, not less than your republican religion, are flagrantly inconsistent. You boast of your love of liberty, your superior civilization, and your pure christianity, while the whole political power of the nation, (as embodied in the two great political parties, is solemnly pledged to support and perpetuate the enslavement of three millions of your countrymen. You hurl your anathemas at the crowned headed tyrants of Russia and Austria, and pride yourselves on your Democratic institutions, while you yourselves consent to be the mere tools and body-guards of the tyrants of Virginia and Carolina. You invite to your shores fugitives of oppression from abroad, honor them with banquets, greet them with ovations, cheer them, toast them, salute them, protect them, and pour out your money to them like water; but the fugitives from your own land, you advertise, hunt, arrest, shoot and kill. You glory in your refinement, and your universal education; yet you maintain a system as barbarous and dreadful, as ever stained the character of a nation—a system begun in avarice, supported in pride, and perpetuated in cruelty. You shed tears over fallen Hungary, and make the sad story of her wrongs the theme of your poets, statesmen and orators, till your gallant sons are ready to fly to arms to vindicate her cause against her oppressors; but, in regard to the ten thousand wrongs of the American slave, you would enforce the strictest silence, and would hail him as an enemy of the nation who dares to make those wrongs the subject of public discourse! You are all on fire at the mention of liberty for France or for Ireland; but are as cold as an iceberg at the thought of liberty for the enslaved of America.—You discourse eloquently on the dignity of labor; yet, you sustain a system which, in its very essence, casts a stigma upon labor. You can bare your bosom to the storm of British artillery, to throw off a three-penny tax on tea; and yet wring the last hard earned farthing from the grasp of the black laborers of your country. You profess to believe “ that, of one blood, God made all nations of men to dwell on the face of all the earth ,” and hath commanded all men, everywhere to love one another; yet you notoriously hate, (and glory in your hatred,) all men whose skins are not colored like your own. You declare, before the world, and are understood by the world to declare, that you “hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal; and are endowed by their Creator with certain, inalienable rights; and that, among these are, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ;” and yet, you hold securely, in a bondage, which according to your own Thomas Jefferson, “ is worse than ages of that which your fathers rose in rebellion to oppose,” a seventh part of the inhabitants of your country.

Fellow-citizens! I will not enlarge further on your national inconsistencies. The existence of slavery in this country brands your republicanism as a sham, your humanity as a base pretence, and your christianity as a lie. It destroys your moral power abroad it corrupts your politicians at home. It saps the foundation of religion; it makes your name a hissing, and a bye-word to a mocking earth. It is the antagonistic force in your government, the only thing that seriously disturbs and endangers your Union . It fetters your progress; it is the enemy of improvement, the deadly foe of education; it fosters pride; it breeds insolence; it promotes vice; it shelters crime; it is a curse to the earth that supports it; and yet, you cling to it, as if it were the sheet anchor of all your hopes. Oh! be warned! be warned! a horrible reptile is coiled up in your nation’s bosom; the venomous creature is nursing at the tender breast of your youthful republic; for the love of God, tear away , and fling from you the hideous monster, and let the weight of twenty millions, crush and destroy it forever!

THE CONSTITUTION.

But it is answered in reply to all this, that precisely what I have now denounced is, in fact, guaranteed and sanctioned by the Constitution of the United States; that, the right to hold, and to hunt slaves is a part of that Constitution framed by the illustrious Fathers of this Republic.

Then , I dare to affirm, notwithstanding all I have said before, your fathers stooped, basely stooped.

“To palter with us in a double sense : 

And keep the word of promise to the ear, 

But break it to the heart.”

And instead of being the honest men I have before declared them to be, they were the veriest imposters that ever practised on mankind. This is the inevitable conclusion, and from it there is no escape; but I differ from those who charge this baseness on the framers of the Constitution of the United States. It is a slander upon their memory , at least, so I believe. There is not time now to argue the constitutional question at length; nor have I the ability to discuss it as it ought to be discussed. The subject has been handled with masterly power by Lysander Spooner, Esq., by William Goodell, by Samuel E. Sewall, Esq., and last, though not least, by Gerritt Smith, Esq. These gentlemen have, as I think, fully and clearly vindicated the Constitution from any design to support slavery for an hour.

Fellow-citizens! there is no matter in respect to which, the people of the North have allowed themselves to be so ruinously imposed upon, as that of the pro-slavery character of the Constitution. In that instrument I hold there is neither warrant, license, nor sanction of the hateful thing; but interpreted, as it ought to be interpreted, the Constitution is a GLORIOUS LIBERTY DOCUMENT. Read its preamble, consider its purposes. Is slavery among them? Is it at the gateway? or is it in the temple? it is neither. While I do not intend to argue this question on the present occasion, let me ask, if it be not somewhat singular that, if the Constitution were intended to be, by its framers and adopters, a slave-holding instrument, why neither slavery, slaveholding , nor slave can anywhere be found in it. What would be thought of an instrument, drawn up, legally drawn up, for the purpose of entitling the city of Rochester to a track of land, in which no mention of land was made? Now, there are certain rules of interpretation, for the proper understanding of all legal instruments. These rules are well established. They are plain, common-sense rules, such as you and I, and all of us, can understand and apply, without having passed years in the study of law. I scout the idea that the question of the constitutionality, or unconstitutionality of slavery, is not a question for the people. I hold that every American citizen has a right to form an opinion of the constitution, and to propagate that opinion, and to use all honorable means to make his opinion the prevailing one. Without this right, the liberty of an American citizen would be as insecure as that of a Frenchman. Ex-Vice-President Dallas tells us that the constitution is an object to which no American mind can be too attentive, and no American heart too devoted. He further says, the constitution, in its words, is plain and intelligible, and is meant for the home-bred, unsophisticated understandings of our fellow-citizens. Senator Berrien tells us that the Constitution is the fundamental law, that which controls all others. The charter of our liberties, which every citizen has a personal interest in understanding thoroughly. The testimony of Senator Breese, Lewis Cass, and many others that might be named, who are everywhere esteemed as sound lawyers, so regard the constitution. I take it, therefore, that it is not presumption in a private citizen to form an opinion of that instrument.

Now, take the constitution according to its plain reading, and I defy the presentation of a single pro-slavery clause in it. On the other hand it will be found to contain principles and purposes, entirely hostile to the existence of slavery.

I have detained my audience entirely too long already. At some future period I will gladly avail myself of an opportunity to give this subject a full and fair discussion.

Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented, of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country. There are forces in operation, which must inevitably, work the downfall of slavery. “ The arm of the Lord is not shortened ,” and the doom of slavery is certain.

I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope . While drawing encouragement from “the Declaration of Independence,” the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age. Nations do not now stand in the same relation to each other that they did ages ago. No nation can now shut itself up, from the surrounding world, and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without interference. The time was when such could be done. Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunity. Knowledge was then confined and enjoyed by the privileged few, and the multitude walked on in mental darkness. But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind. Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well as on the earth. Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. From Boston to London is now a holiday excursion. Space is comparatively annihilated.—Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic, are distinctly heard on the other.

The far off and almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. The fiat of the Almighty, “ Let there be Light ,” has not yet spent its force. No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light. The iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must be seen, in contrast with nature. Afric must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. “ Ethiopia shall stretch out her hand unto God. ” In the fervent aspirations of William Lloyd Garrison, I say, and let every heart join in saying it :

God speed the year of jubilee

The wide world o’er!

When from their galling chains set free, Th’ oppress’d shall vilely bend the knee, And wear the yoke of tyranny Like brutes no more. That year will come, and freedom’s reign, To man his plundered rights again Restore.

God speed the day when human blood Shall cease to flow! In every clime be understood, The claims of human brotherhood, And each return for evil, good, Not blow for blow; That day will come all feuds to end, And change into a faithful friend Each foe.

God speed the hour, the glorious hour, When none on earth Shall exercise a lordly power, Nor in a tyrant’s presence cower; But all to manhood’s stature tower, By equal birth! THAT HOUR WILL COME, to each, to all, And from his prison-house, the thrall Go forth.

Until that year, day, hour, arrive, With head, and heart, and hand I’ll strive, To break the rod, and rend the gyve, The spoiler of his prey deprive— So witness Heaven! And never from my chosen post, Whate’er the peril or the cost, Be driven.

_____________

* Rev. R. R. Raymond.

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Welcome to The Frederick Douglass Papers

Born into slavery in Talbot County, Maryland, Frederick Douglass (1818-95) became one of the most influential human rights activist of the nineteenth century, as well as an internationally acclaimed statesmen, orator, editor, and author. The Frederick Douglass Papers collects, edits, and publishes in books and online the speeches, letters, autobiographies, and other writings of Frederick Douglass. The project's primary aim has been to make the surviving works by this African American figure accessible to a broad audience, much as similar projects have done for the papers of notable white historical and literary figures.

Explore Frederick Douglass Papers Online

The Frederick Douglass Papers Digital Edition offers more than 800 documents from the project's volumes. This online resource will ultimately contain all of the content of the multi-volume Yale University Press print edition of Douglass’s speeches, autobiographies, correspondence, other writings, all the unpublished correspondence, as well as other unpublished materials including editorial and speech tests.

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Do you want to help transcribe Frederick Douglass documents that will eventually be included in the digital edition here? We have documents available in FromThePage, a crowdsourcing platform you can find  HERE

"If there is no struggle there is no progress…. Power concedes nothing without a demand, It never did and it never will."

From the speech, "The Significance of Emancipation in the West Indies," 3 August 1857, Douglass Papers, ser. 1, 3:204.

New Release: Journalism and Other Writings, Volume 1

The first volume of the Journalism and Other Writings Series was published by Yale University Press in late 2021. Launching the fourth series of  The Frederick Douglass Papers , designed to introduce readers to the broadest range of Frederick Douglass’s writing, this volume contains sixty-seven pieces by Douglass, including articles written for the North American Review  and the New York  Independent , as well as unpublished poems, book transcriptions, and travel diaries. Spanning from the 1840s to the 1890s, the documents reproduced in this volume demonstrate how Douglass’s writing evolved over the five decades of his public life. Where his writing for publication was concerned mostly with antislavery advocacy, his unpublished works give readers a glimpse into his religious and personal reflections. The writings are organized chronologically and accompanied by annotations offering biographical information as well as explanations of events mentioned and literary or historical allusions.

Coming Soon: Correspondence, Volume 3

The third volume of the Correspondence Series is now in press and will be published in 2022. This volume reproduces selected correspondence to and from Douglass from the years 1866 to 1880. It produces letters discussing the crucial issues of the Reconstruction Era; Douglass’s career as editor of the Washington (D.C.) New National Era , president of the Freedmen’s Savings Bank, marshal of the District of Columbia, and his active involvement in not just politics but reform causes such as women’s rights. The texts of these letters are accompanied by detailed annotation making Douglass life and times accessible to modern readers.

"I have never yet been able to find one consideration, one argument, or suggestion in favor of man's right to participate in civil government which did not equally apply to the right of women."

Autobiography: Life and Times , 1881, p. 371.