To appreciate the full force of this argument, it must be observed, that disfranchisement in a republican government based upon the idea of human equality and universal suffrage, is a very different thing from disfranchisement in governments based upon the idea of the divine right of kings, or the entire subjugation of the masses. <> But of this let nothing be said in this place. Will you repeat the mistake of your fathers, who sinned ignorantly? Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage - Frederick Douglass 1867 Request Permissions. These facts speak to the better dispositions of the human heart; but they seem of little weight with the opponents of impartial suffrage. National interest and national duty, if elsewhere separated, are firmly united here. 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. 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. It is no less a crime against the manhood of a man, to declare that he shall not share in the making and directing of the government under which he lives, than to say that he shall not acquire property and education. Can that statesmanship be wise which would leave the negro good ground to hesitate, when the exigencies of the country required his prompt assistance? We want no longer any heavy- footed, melancholy service from the negro. In 1867 Frederick Douglass, noted abolitionist and civil rights leader, weighed in on one of the most contentious issues of the day, suffrage for black men following the Civil War. The Rebel States have still an anti-national policy. The lamb may not be trusted with the wolf. Disguise it as we may, we are still a divided nation. What OConnell said of the history of Ireland may with greater truth be said of the negros. It will swallow all the unconstitutional test oaths, repeal all the ordinances of Secession, repudiate the Rebel debt, promise to pay the debt incurred in conquering its people, pass all the constitutional amendments, if only it can have the negro left under its political control. The doctrine that some men have no rights that others are bound to respect is a doctrine which we must banish, as we have banished slavery, from which it emanated. The Amistad Case (1841) The Weeping Time, March 3, 1859 Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage by Frederick Douglass (January 1867) These three primary source documents each deal with the decline of slavery in the United States. %PDF-1.4 But suffrage for the negro, while easily sustained upon abstract principles, demands consideration upon what are recognized as the urgent necessities of the case. Freedom of speech and of the press it slowly but successfully banished from the South, dictated its own code of honor and manners to the nation, brandished the bludgeon and the bowie-knife over Congressional debate, sapped the foundations of loyalty, dried up the springs of patriotism, blotted out the testimonies of the fathers against oppression, padlocked the pulpit, expelled liberty from its literature, invented nonsensical theories about master-races and slave-races of men, and in due season produced a Rebellion fierce, foul, and bloody. Foreign countries abound with his agents. If these bless them, they are blest indeed; but if these blast them, they are blasted indeed. The last and shrewdest turn of Southern politics is a recognition of the necessity of getting into Congress immediately, and at any price. repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses, sentences, or lines of poetry. Women's rights, - Once firmly seated in Congress, their alliance with Northern Democrats re-established, their States restored to their former position inside the Union, they can easily find means of keeping the Federal government entirely too busy with other important matters to pay much attention to the local affairs of the Southern States. It will swallow all the unconstitutional test oaths, repeal all the ordinances of Secession, repudiate the Rebel debt, promise to pay the debt incurred in conquering its people, pass all the constitutional amendments, if only it can have the negro left under its political control. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, . 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. The South fought for perfect and permanent control over the Southern laborer. Does any sane man doubt for a moment that the men who followed Jefferson Davis through the late terrible Rebellion, often marching barefooted and hungry, naked and penniless, and who now only profess an enforced loyalty, would plunge this country into a foreign war to-day, if they could thereby gain their coveted independence, and their still more coveted mastery over the negroes? BlackPast.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and our EIN is 26-1625373. It must cease to recognize the old slave-masters as the only competent persons to rule the South. It is to save the people of the South from themselves, and the nation from detriment on their account. We want no longer any heavy-footed, melancholy service from the negro. The first primary source on Frederick Douglass. Sprague, Rosetta Douglass--Correspondence, - Language Development: Convention and Style-from "Appeal to Congress for Manuscripts, - We have crushed the Rebellion, but not its hopes or its malign purposes. "An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage" | Library of Congress They are too numerous and useful to be colonized, and too enduring and self-perpetuating to disappear by natural causes. The South fought for perfect and permanent control over the Southern laborer. 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. They now stand before Congress and the country, not complaining of the past, but simply asking for a better future. You have read "An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage" by Frederick Douglass and "Our God Is Marching On" by Martin Luther King, Jr., two speeches about voting rights for African Americans. Give the negro the elective franchise, and you give him at once a powerful motive for all noble exertion, and make him a man among men. Loyalty is hardly safe with traitors. Once firmly seated in Congress, their alliance with Northern Democrats re-established, their States restored to their former position inside the Union, they can easily find means of keeping the Federal government entirely too busy with other important matters to pay much attention to the local affairs of the Southern States. It is true that they came to the relief of the country at the hour of its extremest need. It is impossible at this point in time to rid African Americans from the country.2. Foreign countries abound with his agents. Was not the nation stronger when two hundred thousand sable soldiers were hurled against the Rebel fortifications, than it would have been without them? her fellow suffragettes. JFIF H H Exif MM * b j( 1 r2 i The young men of the South burn with the desire to regain what they call the lost cause; the women are noisily malignant towards the Federal government. The destiny of unborn and unnumbered generations is in your hands." By Frederick Douglass AP January 1867 Issue Saved. Hardships, services, sufferings, and sacrifices are all waived. "An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage" Contributor Names Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895 Created / Published January-April 1881 Subject Headings - Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895 . History is said to repeat itself, and, if so, having wanted the negro once, we may want him again. 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. 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? The fundamental and unanswerable argument in favor of the enfranchisement of the negro is found in the undisputed fact of his manhood. There is that, all over the South, which frightens Yankee industry, capital, and skill from its borders. So Just, Speeches on Social Justice, available at: http://www.sojust.net/speeches/frederickdouglas_appeal.html. In fact, all the elements of treason and rebellion are there under the thinnest disguise which necessity can impose. Congress must supplant the evident sectional tendencies of the South by national dispositions and tendencies. beware what you do. Also, this shows us that American is formed from different race and also different culture that 's what make the US. Arming the negro was an urgent military necessity three years ago,--are we sure that another quite as pressing may not await us? And does not the Emperor of Russia act wisely, as well as generously, when he not only breaks up the bondage of the serf, but extends him all the advantages of Russian citizenship? Under the potent shield of State Rights, the game would be in their own hands. Find the collection. Do you find this information helpful? They are able, vigilant, devoted. Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874--Correspondence, - Nations, not less than individuals, reap as they sow. A character is demanded of him, and here as elsewhere demand favors supply. Nor can we afford to endure the moral blight which the existence of a degraded and hated class must necessarily inflict upon any people among whom such a class may exist. 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. Foreign countries abound with his agents. High School US History Reading - Slavery's Last Gasp Nations, not less than individuals, reap as they sow. The answers to these questions are too obvious to require statement. The destiny of unborn and unnumbered generations is in your hands. As a nation, we cannot afford to have amongst us either this indifference and stupidity, or that burning sense of wrong. It early mastered the Constitution, became superior to the Union, and enthroned itself above the law. Frederick Douglass Papers: Speech, Article, and Book File, -1894; Speeches, Articles, and Other Writings Attributed to Frederick or Helen Pitts Douglass, 1881 to 1887; "An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage," 1881. What, then, is the work before Congress? It is plain that, if the right belongs to any, it belongs to all. Slaves--Emancipation, - The new wine must be put into new bottles. 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. If black men have no rights in the eyes of white men, of course the whites can have none in the eyes of the blacks. 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. AP Gov Unit 3 Test | Government Quiz - Quizizz It is no less a crime against the manhood of a man, to declare that he shall not share in the making and directing of the government under which he lives, than to say that he shall not acquire property and education. This evil principle again seeks admission into our body politic. Can that statesmanship be wise which would leave the negro good ground to hesitate, when the exigencies of the country required his prompt assistance? Citizenship Paper. For guidance about compiling full citations consult Citing Primary Sources. To make peace with our enemies is all well enough; but to prefer our enemies and sacrifice our friends,to exalt our enemies and cast down our friends,to clothe our enemies, who sought the destruction of the government, with all political power, and leave our friends powerless in their hands,is an act which need not be characterized here. His address, given in January 1867 in Washington, D.C., during the Congressional debate on black male voting in the territories, appears below. Arming the negro was an urgent military necessity three years ago,are we sure that another quite as pressing may not await us? An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage by Frederick Douglass A very limited statement of the argu-ment for impartial suffrage, and for including the negro in the body politic, would require more space than can be reasonably asked here. Yet, as Douglass explains, citizenship has no meaning without the right to vote. Douglass, F. (1881) Frederick Douglass Papers: Speech, Article, and Book File, -1894; Speeches, Articles, and Other Writings Attributed to Frederick or Helen Pitts Douglass, 1881 to 1887; "An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage," 1881. It must cause national ideas and objects to take the lead and control the politics of those States. Credit Line: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, The Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress, More about Copyright and other Restrictions. Statesmen of America! But suffrage for the negro, while easily sustained upon abstract principles, demands consideration upon what are recognized as the urgent necessities of the case.
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