You shudder to-day at the harvest of blood sown in the spring-time of the Republic by your patriot fathers. 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? Orators, - 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 must cause national ideas and objects to take the lead and control the politics of those States. Is not Austria wise in removing all ground of complaint against her on the part of Hungary? What is common to all works no special sense of degradation to any. As a nation, we cannot afford to have amongst us either this indifference and stupidity, or that burning sense of wrong. 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. For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions 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. ? We want the cheerful activity of the quickened manhood of these sable millions. The last and shrewdest turn of Southern politics is a recognition of the necessity of getting into Congress immediately, and at any price. Foreign countries abound with his agents. Sprague, Rosetta Douglass--Correspondence, - For guidance about compiling full citations consult Citing Primary Sources. Bassett, Ebenezer D., 1833-1908--Correspondence, - Congress must supplant the evident sectional tendencies of the South by national dispositions and tendencies. The dreadful calamities of the past few years came not by accident, nor unbidden, from the ground. JFIF H H Exif MM * b j( 1 r2 i by John W. Blassingame (transcription project) <> Look across the sea. From "Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage" Which best describes Douglass's main purpose? In a pair of Atlantic articles in 1866 and '67, Douglass addressed members of the 39th session of Congress, urging them to give black Americans the right to vote. 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 ideas and objects can take full possession of the Southern mind. Congress must supplant the evident sectional tendencies of the South by national dispositions and tendencies. Impartial history will paint them as men who deserved well of their country. It may be "traced like a wounded man through a crowd, by the blood." 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? 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. Assing, Ottilie--Correspondence, - For better or for worse, (as in some of the old marriage ceremonies,) the negroes are evidently a permanent part of the American population. Source: Source unknown. The destiny of unborn and unnumbered generations is in your hands." By Frederick Douglass AP January 1867 Issue Saved. This ends the case. 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? It is supported by reasons as broad as the nature of man, and as numerous as the wants of society. Loyalty is hardly safe with traitors. Question 1. Civil rights, - What OConnell said of the history of Ireland may with greater truth be said of the negros. win the trust of an increasingly mistrustful electorate. There is something immeasurably mean, to say nothing of the cruelty, in placing the loyal negroes of the South under the political power of their Rebel masters. As you members of the Thirty-ninth Congress decide, will the country be peaceful, united, and happy, or troubled, divided, and miserable. The enfranchisement of an African American man is his manhood, and that the idea ofsome men getting rights and others don't is something that must be relinquished. We have crushed the Rebellion, but not its hopes or its malign purposes. 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? 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. A nation might well hesitate before the temptation to betray its allies. There is but one safe and constitutional way to banish that mischievous hope from the South, and that is by lifting the laborer beyond the unfriendly political designs of his former master. (Susan Brownell), 1820-1906--Correspondence, - https://www.loc.gov/item/mss1187900602/. 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. Nations, not less than individuals, reap as they sow. Massachusetts and South Carolina may draw tears from the eyes of our tender-hearted President by walking arm in arm into his Philadelphia Convention, but a citizen of Massachusetts is still an alien in the Palmetto State. Douglass, Frederick. It is a measure of relief,--a shield to break the force of a blow already descending with violence, and render it harmless. 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. An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage NOT COMPLAINING OF THE PAST, SIMPLY ASKING FOR A BETTER FUTURE An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage Go here for more about Frederick Douglass. They are too numerous and useful to be colonized, and too enduring and self-perpetuating to disappear by natural causes. Will you repeat the mistake of your fathers, who sinned ignorantly? National interest and national duty, if elsewhere separated, are firmly united here. 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. Waiving humanity, national honor, the claims of gratitude, the precious satisfaction arising from deeds of charity and justice to the weak and defenceless,--the appeal for impartial suffrage addresses itself with great pertinency to the darkest, coldest, and flintiest side of the human heart, and would wring righteousness from the unfeeling calculations of human selfishness. Founded in 1969 and hailed by The New York Times as a journal in which the writings of many of todays finest black thinkers may be viewed, THE BLACK SCHOLAR has firmly established itself as the leading journal of black cultural and political thought in the United States and remains under the editorship of Robert Chrisman, Editor-In-Chief, Robert Allen, Senior Editor, and Maize Woodford, Executive Editor. 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. It is true that a strong plea for equal suffrage might be addressed to the national sense of honor. It is true that, notwithstanding their alleged ignorance, they were wiser than their masters, and knew enough to be loyal, while those masters only knew enough to be rebels and traitors. 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. It is supported by reasons as broad as the nature of man, and as numerous as the wants of society. It is nothing against this reasoning that all men who vote are not good men or good citizens. 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. It is true that, in many of the rebellious States, they were almost the only reliable friends the nation had throughout the whole tremendous war. It is plain that, if the right belongs to any, it belongs to all. Plainly enough, the peace not less than the prosperity of this country is involved in the great measure of impartial suffrage. 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. The ploughshare of rebellion has gone through the land beam-deep. It is true that a strong plea for equal suffrage might be addressed to the national sense of honor. Here they are, four millions of them, and, for weal or for woe, here they must remain. 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. 30 seconds. Statesmen, beware what you do. The ploughshare of rebellion has gone through the land beam-deep. 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. "Frederick Douglass (African American abolitionist and civil right 's leader), "An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage," January 1867". For better or for worse, (as in some of the old marriage ceremonies,) the negroes are evidently a permanent part of the American population. The destiny of unborn and unnumbered generations is in your hands. It only asks for a large degraded caste, which shall have no political rights. His right to a participation in the production and operation of government is an inference from his nature, as direct and self-evident as is his right to acquire property or education. 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. But this mark of inferiorityall the more palpable because of a difference of colornot only dooms the negro to be a vagabond, but makes him the prey of insult and outrage everywhere. There is that, all over the South, which frightens Yankee industry, capital, and skill from its borders. 1973 Taylor & Francis, Ltd. Waiving humanity, national honor, the claims of gratitude, the precious satisfaction arising from deeds of charity and justice to the weak and defenceless,the appeal for impartial suffrage addresses itself with great pertinency to the darkest, coldest, and flintiest side of the human heart, and would wring righteousness from the unfeeling calculations of human selfishness. 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. Citizenship Paper. 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. The result is a war of races, and the annihilation of all proper human relations. African American newspapers--New York (State)--Rochester, - What OConnell said of the history of Ireland may with greater truth be said of the negros. The answers to these questions are too obvious to require statement. It is nothing against this reasoning that all men who vote are not good men or good citizens. A very limited statement of the argument for impartial suffrage, and for including the negro in the body politic, would require more space than can be reasonably asked here. 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? 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 battlefield; 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.
Is Tom Llamas Related To Lorenzo Llamas,
Percy Jackson Monologues Annabeth,
Potbelly Pig Skin Conditions,
Articles A