Waiving humanity, national honor, the claims of gratitude, the precious satisfaction arising from deeds of charity and justice to the weak and defenseless, the appeal for impartial suffrage addresses itself with great pertinence to the darkest, coldest, and flintiest side of the human heart, and would wring righteousness from the unfeeling calculations of human selfishness. Garrison, William Lloyd, 1805-1879--Correspondence, - 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. It is supported by reasons as broad as the nature of man, and as numerous as the wants of society. The soil is in readiness, and the seed-time has come. endobj [Manuscript/Mixed Material] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/mss1187900602/. Manuscript/Mixed Material. 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. 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. Look across the sea. Douglass, Frederick. By the 1890s Douglass, aging and in ill health but still out on the lecture circuit . They are able, vigilant, devoted. Impartial history will paint them as men who deserved well of their country. Strong as we are, we need the energy that slumbers in the black man's arm to make us stronger. But no such appeal shall be relied on here. Man is the only government-making animal in the world. Nations, not less than individuals, reap as they sow. 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. This ends the case. A. to ask that African Americans be permitted to be members of Congress B. to warn that southern states are planning for a second rebellion C. to persuade Congress to extend voting rights to freed slaves Frederick Douglass: An Appeal To Congress For Impartial Suffrage 753 Words | 4 Pages. Statesmen, beware what you do. The Rebel States have still an anti-national policy. They are able, vigilant, devoted. Abolitionists, - However, I noticed that all three sources relate to three civil right movements and they are all trying to help the black community. As you members of the Thirty-ninth Congress decide, will the country be peaceful, united, and happy, or troubled, divided, and miserable. 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. Four specific "thesis" ideas: 1. It comes now in shape of a denial of political rights to four million loyal colored people. Anthony, Susan B. Credit Line: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, The Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress, More about Copyright and other Restrictions. Was not the nation stronger when two hundred thousand sable soldiers were hurled against the Rebel fortifications, than it would have been without them? For guidance about compiling full citations consult Citing Primary Sources. But suffrage for the negro, while easily sustained upon abstract principles, demands consideration upon what are recognized as the urgent necessities of the case. Antimetabole. Under the potent shield of State Rights, the game would be in their own hands. . by noting that the economy has greatly benefited from African- Americans' labor . by citing the community improvements that have resulted from African-Americans' charitable activities The lamb may not be trusted with the wolf. "An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage" Contributor Names Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895 Created / Published January-April 1881 Subject Headings - Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895 . Man . It only asks for a large degraded caste, which shall have no political rights. Disguise it as we may, we are still a divided nation. African American newspapers--New York (State)--Rochester, - Is not Austria wise in removing all ground of complaint against her on the part of Hungary? 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. Question 1. the members of congress. For better or for worse, (as in some of the old marriage ceremonies,) the negroes are evidently a permanent part of the American population. 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 What does the following sentence from the essay An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage by Frederick Douglas depict Impartial history will paint them as men who deserved well of their country 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 Visit American Literature's American History section for other important historical documents and figures which helped shape America. The soil is in readiness, and the seedtime has come. It is impossible at this point in time to rid African Americans from the country.2. Citizenship Paper. Assing, Ottilie--Correspondence, - 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. The result is a war of races, and the annihilation of all proper human relations. Masses of men can take care of themselves. 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. 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. 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? , or . An abolitionist, writer and orator Frederick Douglass was the most important black American leader of the nineteenth century. The destiny of unborn and unnumbered generations is in your hands. win the trust of an increasingly mistrustful electorate. As a nation, we cannot afford to have amongst us either this indifference and stupidity, or that burning sense of wrong. The new wine must be put into new bottles. But why are the Southerners so willing to make these sacrifices? Congress must supplant the evident sectional tendencies of the South by national dispositions and tendencies. It is plain that, if the right belongs to any, it belongs to all. Civil rights, - National interest and national duty, if elsewhere separated, are firmly united here. It is plain that, if the right belongs to any, it belongs to all. % It is true that a strong plea for equal suffrage might be addressed to the national sense of honor. 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. My Escape from Slavery. 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. The dreadful calamities of the past few years came not by accident, nor unbidden, from the ground. Masses of men can take care of themselves. Congress must supplant the evident sectional tendencies of the South by national dispositions and tendencies. Statesmen of America! These sable millions are too powerful to be allowed to remain either indifferent or discontented. 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. The South does not now ask for slavery. repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses, sentences, or lines of poetry. 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. 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. But upon none of these things is reliance placed. 112-117. But in a country like ours, where men of all nations, kindred, and tongues are freely enfranchised, and allowed to vote, to say to the negro, You shall not vote, is to deal his manhood a staggering blow, and to burn into his soul a bitter and goading sense of wrong, or else work in him a stupid indifference to all the elements of a manly character. The South fought for perfect and permanent control over the Southern laborer. His address, given in January 1867 in Washington, D.C., during the Congressional debate on black male voting in the territories, appears below. 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. Is Ireland, in her present condition, fretful, discontented, compelled to support an establishment in which she does not believe, and which the vast majority of her people abhor, a source of power or of weakness to Great Britain? The last and shrewdest turn of Southern politics is a recognition of the necessity of getting into Congress immediately, and at any price. United States, series: Speech, Article, and Book File, 1846-1894; Speeches, Articles, and Other Writings Attributed to Frederick or Helen Pitts Douglass, 1881-1887. 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. This evil principle again seeks admission into our body politic. 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. 5 0 obj Three years later, the . Arming the negro was an urgent military necessity three years ago, are we sure that another quite as pressing may not await us? It only asks for a large degraded caste, which shall have no political rights. 865-425-9601. "An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage" in The Atlantic Monthly, 19 (January, 1867) Oration in Memory of Abraham Lincoln (1876) My Escape from Slavery (1881) . The new wine must be put into new bottles. The South fought for perfect and permanent control over the Southern laborer. beware what you do. But this mark of inferiority--all the more palpable because of a difference of color--not only dooms the negro to be a vagabond, but makes him the prey of insult and outrage everywhere. They now stand before Congress and the country, not complaining of the past, but simply asking for a better future. The dreadful calamities of the past few years came not by accident, nor unbidden, from the ground. They are too numerous and useful to be colonized, and too enduring and self-perpetuating to disappear by natural causes. Helen Douglass papers, - Statesmen of America! Impartial history will paint them as men who deserved well of their country. If these bless them, they are blest indeed; but if these blast them, they are blasted indeed. 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. 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. Enfranchise them, and they become self-respecting and country-loving citizens. 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. Disguise it as we may, we are still a divided nation. Women's rights, - 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. answer choices the president of the United States. "An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage." Atlantic Monthly 19 (Jan. 1867): 112-117. Review Us. Library of Congress; Frederick Douglass Speeches, Debates, and Interviews Vol 1 (1841-1846) ed. 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. Frederick Douglass Papers: Speech, Article, and Book File, 1846-1894; Speeches, Articles, and Other Writings Attributed to Union and liberty : powers of Congress in relation to the slaves, with a form of Celebration of the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia by the colored people, in Frederick Douglass Papers: Speech, Article, and Book File, 1846-1894; Speeches, Articles, and Other Writings Attributed to Frederick or Helen Pitts Douglass, 1881-1887; "An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage," 1881, - Casting aside all thought of justice and magnanimity, is it wise to impose upon the negro all the burdens involved in sustaining government against foes within and foes without, to make him equal sharer in all sacrifices for the public good, to tax him in peace and conscript him in war, and then coldly exclude him from the ballot-box? 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. 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 It may be "traced like a wounded man through a crowd, by the blood." 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. 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. It early mastered the Constitution, became superior to the Union, and enthroned itself above the law. Find the collection. endobj 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. Read the next essay; The fundamental and unanswerable argument in favor of the enfranchisement of the negro is found in the undisputed fact of his manhood. Strong as we are, we need the energy that slumbers in the black mans arm to make us stronger. What is common to all works no special sense of degradation to any. It must cause national ideas and objects to take the lead and control the politics of those States. National interest and national duty, if elsewhere separated, are firmly united here. In fact, all the elements of treason and rebellion are there under the thinnest disguise which necessity can impose. It is true that they came to the relief of the country at the hour of its extremest need. 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. African Americans--Washington (D.C.), - What O'Connell said of the history of Ireland may with greater truth be said of the negro's. 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. A nation might well hesitate before the temptation to betray its allies. It must cease to recognize the old slave-masters as the only competent persons to rule the South. Statesmen, beware what you do. Here they are, four millions of them, and, for weal or for woe, here they must remain. Plainly enough, the peace not less than the prosperity of this country is involved in the great measure of impartial suffrage. Douglass, Lewis, 1840-1908--Correspondence, - Directions. There is that, all over the south, which frightens Yankee industry, capital, and skill from its borders. While nothing may be urged here as to the past services of the negro, it is quite within the line of this appeal to remind the nation of the possibility that a time may come when the services of the negro may be a second time required. Was not the nation stronger when two hundred thousand sable soldiers were hurled against the Rebel fortifications, than it would have been without them? Arming the negro was an urgent military necessity three years ago,--are we sure that another quite as pressing may not await us? a comparison between two different things. Exclude the negroes as a class from political rightsteach them that the high and manly privilege of suffrage is to be enjoyed by white citizens only, that they may bear the burdens of the state, but that they are to have no part in its direction or its honors, and you at once deprive them of one of the main incentives to manly character and patriotic devotion to the interests of the government; in a word, you stamp them as a degraded caste, you teach them to despise themselves, and all others to despise them. None of the choices The lamb may not be trusted with the wolf. A small donation would help us keep this available to all. 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. An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage by Frederick Douglass An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage was published in the Atlantic Monthly, Issue 19, January 1867, pp. beware of what you do. It is a measure of relief,--a shield to break the force of a blow already descending with violence, and render it harmless. It must cease to recognize the old slave-masters as the only competent persons to rule the South. Yet, as Douglass explains, citizenship has no meaning without the right to vote. They are too numerous and useful to be colonized, and too enduring and self-perpetuating to disappear by natural causes. Anaphora. 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. The South fought for perfect and permanent control over the Southern laborer. Is the present movement in England in favor of manhood suffrage--for the purpose of bringing four millions of British subjects into full sympathy and co-operation with the British government--a wise and humane movement, or otherwise? 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. All this and more is true of these loyal negroes. 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. Here they are, four millions of them, and, for weal or for woe, here they must remain. Look across the sea. 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.
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