Sprague, Rosetta Douglass--Correspondence, - It must cease to recognize the old slave-masters as the only competent persons to rule the South. It is true that they fought side by side in the loyal cause with our gallant and patriotic white soldiers, and that, but for their help,--divided as the loyal States were,--the Rebels might have succeeded in breaking up the Union, thereby entailing border wars and troubles of unknown duration and incalculable calamity. The text argues that the central problem of the parties today is how to. "An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage." Atlantic Monthly 19 (Jan. 1867): 112-117. The principle of slavery, which they tolerated under the erroneous impression that it would soon die out, became at last the dominant principle and power at the South. answer choices. In a word, it must enfranchise the negro, and by means of the loyal negroes and the loyal white men of the South build till a national party there, and in time bridge the chasm between North and South, so that our country may have a common liberty and a common civilization. her fellow suffragettes. Disguise it as we may, we are still a divided nation. Credit Line: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, The Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress, More about Copyright and other Restrictions. Sitemap. Give the negro the elective franchise, and you at once destroy the purely sectional policy, and wheel the Southern States into line with national interests and national objects. Masses of men can take care of themselves. It is nothing against this reasoning that all men who vote are not good men or good citizens. The American people can, perhaps, afford to brave the censure of surrounding nations for the manifest injustice and meanness of excluding its faithful black soldiers from the ballot-box, but it cannot afford to allow the moral and mental energies of rapidly increasing millions to be consigned to hopeless degradation. For better or for worse, (as in some of the old marriage ceremonies,) the negroes are evidently a permanent part of the American population. 5 0 obj mobilize voters with a declining sense of internal political efficacy. For in respect to this grand measure it is the good fortune of the negro that enlightened selfishness, not less than justice, fights on his side. It is nothing against this reasoning that all men who vote are not good men or good citizens. If black men have no rights in the eyes of white men, of course the white can have none in the eyes of the blacks. An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage Frederick Douglass. Collapse All | Expand All An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage Frederick Douglass Atlantic Monthly January 1867 An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage We have crushed the Rebellion, but not its hopes or its malign purposes. Look across the sea. You shudder to-day at the harvest of blood sown in the spring-time of the Republic by your patriot fathers. Under the potent shield of State Rights, the game would be in their own hands. Nations, not less than individuals, reap as they sow. The South will comply with any conditions but suffrage for the negro. 112-117.
o " Disguise it as we may, we are still a divided nation. We want no longer any heavy-footed, melancholy service from the negro. Can that be sound statesmanship which leaves millions of men in gloomy discontent, and possibly in a state of alienation in the day of national trouble? Something, too, might be said of national gratitude. The dreadful calamities of the past few years came not by accident, nor unbidden, from the ground. It comes now in shape of a denial of political rights to four million loyal colored people. Civil rights, - This evil principle again seeks admission into our body politic. Something, too, might be said of national gratitude. Their history is parallel to that of the country; but while the history of the latter has been cheerful and bright with blessings, theirs has been heavy and dark with agonies and curses. Library of Congress; Frederick Douglass Speeches, Debates, and Interviews Vol 1 (1841-1846) ed. For guidance about compiling full citations consult Citing Primary Sources. The fundamental and unanswerable argument in favor of the enfranchisement of the negro is found in the undisputed fact of his manhood. My Escape from Slavery. Weve gathered dozens of the most important pieces from our archives on race and racism in America. It only asks for a large degraded caste, which shall have no political rights. If these bless them, they are blest indeed; but if these blast them, they are blasted indeed. It will tell how these poor people, whose rights we still despised, behaved to our wounded soldiers, when found cold, hungry, and bleeding on the deserted battle-field; how they assisted our escaping prisoners from Andersonville, Belle Isle, Castle Thunder, and elsewhere, sharing with them their wretched crusts, and otherwise affording them aid and comfort; how they promptly responded to the trumpet call for their services, fighting against a foe that denied them the rights of civilized warfare, and for a government which was without the courage to assert those rights and avenge their violation in their behalf; with what gallantry they flung themselves upon Rebel fortifications, meeting death as fearlessly as any other troops in the service. All this and more is true of these loyal negroes. Is the existence of a rebellious element in our borderswhich New Orleans, Memphis, and Texas show to be only disarmed, but at heart as malignant as ever, only waiting for an opportunity to reassert itself with fire and sworda reason for leaving four millions of the nations truest friends with just cause of complaint against the Federal government? It is a measure of relief,--a shield to break the force of a blow already descending with violence, and render it harmless. Is not Austria wise in removing all ground of complaint against her on the part of Hungary? In a word, it must enfranchise the negro, and by means of the loyal negroes and the loyal white men of the South build up a national party there, and in time bridge the chasm between North and South, so that our country may have a common liberty and a common civilization. Is the existence of a rebellious element in our borders--which New Orleans, Memphis, and Texas show to be only disarmed, but at heart as malignant as ever, only waiting for an opportunity to reassert itself with fire and sword--a reason for leaving four millions of the nation's truest friends with just cause of complaint against the Federal government? A nation might well hesitate before the temptation to betray its allies. History is said to repeat itself, and, if so, having wanted the negro once, we may want him again. the members of congress. Peace to the country has literally meant war to the loyal men of the South, white and black; and negro suffrage is the measure to arrest and put an end to that dreadful strife. National interest and national duty, if elsewhere separated, are firmly united here. Their history is parallel to that of the country; but while the history of the latter has been cheerful and bright with blessings, theirs has been heavy and dark with agonies and curses. Three years later, the . It is true that a strong plea for equal suffrage might be addressed to the national sense of honor. They who waged it had no objection to the government, while they could use it as a means of confirming their power over the laborer. It is nothing against this reasoning that all men who vote are not good men or good citizens. (Susan Brownell), 1820-1906--Correspondence, - It was a war of the rich against the poor. It must cease to recognize the old slave-masters as the only competent persons to rule the South. beware what you do. But no such appeal shall be relied on here. Return to the Frederick Douglass library It will tell how they forded and swam rivers, with what consummate address they evaded the sharp-eyed Rebel pickets, how they toiled in the darkness of night through the tangled marshes of briers and thorns, barefooted and weary, running the risk of losing their lives, to warn our generals of Rebel schemes to surprise and destroy our loyal army. Find the collection. 3 !1AQa"q2B#$Rb34rC%Scs5&DTdEt6UeuF'Vfv7GWgw 5 !1AQaq"2B#R3$brCScs4%&5DTdEU6teuFVfv'7GWgw ? It is enough that the possession and exercise of the elective franchise is in itself an appeal to the nobler elements of manhood, and imposes education as essential to the safety of society. It early mastered the Constitution, became superior to the Union, and enthroned itself above the law. The spectacle of these dusky millions thus imploring, not demanding, is touching; and if American statesmen could be moved by a simple appeal to the nobler elements of human nature, if they had not fallen, seemingly, into the incurable habit of weighing and measuring every proposition of reform by some standard of profit and loss, doing wrong from choice, and right only from necessity or some urgent demand of human selfishness, it would be enough to plead for the negroes on the score of past services and sufferings. We have thus far only gained a Union without unity, marriage without love, victory without peace. They fought the government, not because they hated the government as such, but because they found it, as they thought, in the way between them and their one grand purpose of rendering permanent and indestructible their authority and power over the Southern laborer. You shudder to-day at the harvest of blood sown in the spring-time of the Republic by your patriot fathers. The American people can, perhaps, afford to brave the censure of surrounding nations for the manifest injustice and meanness of excluding its faithful black soldiers from the ballot-box, but it cannot afford to allow the moral and mental energies of rapidly increasing millions to be consigned to hopeless degradation. It is impossible at this point in time to rid African Americans from the country.2. Douglass, Joseph H. (Joseph Henry), 1871-1935, - Q. Though the battle is for the present lost, the hope of gaining this object still exists, and pervades the whole South with a feverish excitement. Peace to the country has literally meant war to the loyal men of the South, white and black; and negro suffrage is the measure to arrest and put an end to that dreadful strife. Men are so constituted that they largely derive their ideas of their abilities and their possibilities from the settled judgments of their fellow-men, and especially from such as they read in the institutions under which they live. [Manuscript/Mixed Material] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/mss1187900602/. beware of what you do. Will you repeat the mistake of your fathers, who sinned ignorantly? Was not the nation stronger when two hundred thousand sable soldiers were hurled against the Rebel fortifications, than it would have been without them? Page includes two illustrations showing African Americans celebrating the abolition of slavery in Washington, D.C. and portrait of Henry A. Smythe, newly appointed Collector of Customs of New York; also includes articles http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/ms000009.mss11879.00602, View Frederick Douglass Papers Finding Aid, Frederick Douglass Papers: Speech, Article, and Book File, 1846 to 1894; Speeches, Articles, and Other Writings Attributed to Frederick or Helen Pitts Douglass, 1881 to 1887, Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress. All Rights Reserved. The result is a war of races, and the annihilation of all proper human relations. Is not Austria wise in removing all ground of complaint against her on the part of Hungary? Statesmen, beware what you do. We want no longer any heavy- footed, melancholy service from the negro. Loyalty is hardly safe with traitors. A nation might well hesitate before the temptation to betray its allies. Strong as we are, we need the energy that slumbers in the black mans arm to make us stronger. The destiny of unborn and unnumbered generations is in your hands. The hope of gaining by politics what they lost by the sword, is the secret of all this Southern unrest; and that hope must be extinguished before national idea and objects can take full possession of the Southern mind. It is supported by reasons as broad as the nature of man, and as numerous as the wants of society. In a word, it must enfranchise the negro, and by means of the loyal negroes and the loyal white men of the South build up a national party there, and in time bridge the chasm between North and South, so that our country may have a common liberty and a common civilization. It must cause national ideas and objects to take the lead and control the politics of those States. It is true that a strong plea for equal suffrage might be addressed to the national sense of honor. We have crushed the Rebellion, but not its hopes or its malign purposes. It only asks for a large degraded caste, which shall have no political rights. The answer plainly is, they see in this policy the only hope of saving something of their old sectional peculiarities and power. repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses, sentences, or lines of poetry. LC copy formerly part of YA Collection: YA 15708. Man is the only government-making animal in the world. It is to save the people of the South from themselves, and the nation from detriment on their account. Something then, not by way of argument, (for that has been done by Charles Sumner, Thaddeus Stevens, Wendell Phillips, Gerrit Smith, and other able men,) but rather of statement and appeal. Disfranchise them, and the mark of Cain is set upon them less mercifully than upon the first murderer, for no man was to hurt him. We want the cheerful activity of the quickened manhood of these sable millions. The South fought for perfect and permanent control over the Southern laborer. He is a man, and by every fact and argument by which any man can sustain his right to vote, the negro can sustain his right equally. or will you profit by the blood-bought wisdom all round you, and forever expel every vestige of the old abomination from our national borders? The destiny of unborn and unnumbered generations is in your hands. The soil is in readiness, and the seedtime has come. The lamb may not be trusted with the wolf. The soil is in readiness, and the seed-time has come. Foreign countries abound with his agents.
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