Since slaves are not free, Douglass believes this demonstrates that slavery is not supported by the constitution. The Constitution may be right, the Government is wrong. The currency wasn't stable; there were lots of debts. A chart is one thing, the course of the vessel is another. The divergence of Douglass’ opinion from that of Garrison ended their friendship. Frederick Douglass and the Fourth of July, by James A. Colaiaco, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 256 pages, $24.95. The passage continues: “I believe in individuality, but individuals are, to the mass, like waves to the ocean. Social Studies. From 1788 until 1860, only two opponents of slavery, John Adams and John Quincy Adams, held the nation's highest office, and for only a total of eight years. 1. He was also a believer in dialogue and in making alliances across racial and ideological divides, as well as in the liberal values of the U.S. Constitution. Douglass -- a former slave who became a notable orator, writer and statesman -- initially interpreted the document as being pro-slavery after escaping to the North and forming a relationship with William Lloyd Garrison, a prominent white abolitionist who published the anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator. Once he committed to his belief in the Constitution as a valid document, he used it as a tool in his arsenal to advocate for the freedom, and later the civil rights of African Americans and women. Follow her on Twitter @NoelleTrentPhD. To answer this question, ... We have been miseducated by modern polling to believe that this is a simple question, but there is much evidence, both historical and contemporary, to suggest that majorities are often ephemeral. The Fifteenth Amendment was ratified in 1870, granting African American men suffrage. Women’s rights activists like Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucy Stone were also abolitionists. Much will be gained at the outset if we fully and clearly understand the real question under discussion. The debate about suffrage for Black men severed ties between White suffragists and Black activists including Douglass. © 2020 Leaf Group Ltd. / Leaf Group Media, All Rights Reserved. As Philip Foner has argued, the transition to political abolitionism made Douglass more moderate and palatable to the masses. It was therefore the duty of every American citizen to use the Constitution and political processes at their disposal to bring the country in line with its founding intent. Frederick Douglass was inducted into the AERA as one of its three vice presidents at the organization’s first meeting in May 1866. We recognize that there will be disagreement but ask that you be civil about such disagreements. June 25, 2015 The 4th of July will soon be upon us in and around Baltimore, Charleston, and Ferguson – and all across the United States. The complicated aspect of this legacy came after the Civil War during the controversy over the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Republican Party could not secure the votes to support universal suffrage. The Constitution was proslavery, the national government was controlled by slaveowners, and politics was a waste of time. Douglass believes it’s the responsibility of the free states to liberate the enslaved people of the Southern states, and to extend and enforce guarantees of human rights for all inhabitants of all states. Before Hamilton took charge of the country, the financial situation was horrible. Douglass initially endorsed the views of the radical abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, who believed that the Constitution was a pro-slavery document, a “covenant with Hell.” To be an American man meant that you had the right to vote and hold office. Historians now believe that Douglass had an affair for over twenty years, from 1856 to 1881, with Ottilie Assing, a German journalist and political radical. Douglass’s constantly reconsidered his ideas about the Constitution as the realities of Black life, especially in the South, changed. Several clauses in the body of the text, such as Article 1’s “three-fifths" compromise that allowed “those bound to Service” to be counted as three-fifths of a human being for the purposes of congressional representation, were also viewed as being inherently supportive of the institution of slavery. It was on this day that Douglass wrote in a … As a slave he grew up believing the constitution is what was allowing for the oppression of slaves. Her work has appeared in "The Boston Globe," "The Boston Business Journal" and the "International Business Times." I will state it. Frederick Douglass did not always believe the Constitution was an anti-slavery document. See disclaimer. At the annual meeting of the American Equal Rights Association held in May 1869, Douglass asserted that Black men needed the right to vote because Black people, unlike women, were dragged from their homes and lynched. After the Dred Scott decision, Frederick Douglass said he sought to have Americans live up to the principles of the Constitution. Ashley Portero has been covering state and national politics since 2011. When it became clear that the Fourteenth Amendment would exclude a suffrage component, the focus of the Fifteenth Amendment became suffrage. He employs parallelism, a type of organization in which a writer places similar ideas in a similar structure. Douglass, however, had long been recognized as a women’s rights man. The United States Constitution specifically permitted slavery. "Though he does say that the Constitution, for instance, is still a 'glorious liberty document.' At that time the abolitionist movement was sharply divided between those who believed the Constitution itself was a “guilty compromise” on slavery in order to create the Union, and those who believed the document was opposed to injustice for people of all colors and backgrounds. But first let me state what is not the question. He continued to hold the Constitution in high reverence, stating that his life’s work had been to see the principles of liberty and humanity expressed in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence fully realized without regard to race, gender, or religion. Donald Trump, Republican nominee for president, does not believe in the United States Constitution.. That’s a strong statement, but it’s increasingly clear that it’s true. https://wjmi.blogspot.com/2014/03/frederick-douglass-on-constitution-and.html Douglass came to believe that documents recording the debates of the framers during the composition of the Constitution, as well as a straight reading of both that document and the Declaration of Independence proved the framers did not intend to preserve the institution of slavery. Frederick Douglass in his narrative, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” discusses the role of religion, Christianity in particular, which was written in literature known as the bible had two versions: true Christianity and the white Christianity that helped in strengthening slavery. Enfranchisement meant that Black men could contribute to American society by voting and holding office, but more importantly receive the economic benefits of American society. The Constitution would become the lens through which he would advocate for the freedom and natural rights of all people, African Americans and women. Frederick Douglass after reading the constitution he said, . manifest destiny . In the decades after the war, he was the most influential African American leader in the nation. Noelle Trent is the Director of Interpretation, Collections & Education at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. And first a word about the question. His purpose in the Fourth of … Douglass wanted to make it clear: this was an emergency. What did he believe prevented Americans from living up to the Constitution? and believe that the way to abolish slavery in America is to vote such men into power as well use their powers for the abolition of slavery. Douglass drew on the tradition of natural law in his argument against slavery. - 4th of July. He further says, the constitution, in its words, is plain and intelligible, and is meant for the home-bred, unsophisticated understandings of … Frederick Douglass's friends in the abolitionist movement were all extremely faithful Christians, but, in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass has some really harsh criticisms for slave owners who claim to be Christians. (Douglass believes that a person can't both be a Christian and a slave owner.). Douglass was invoking a principle of constitutional interpretation that holds that the text itself is all that matters, that the intentions of the framers are irrelevant. But to Douglass with slavery still not over there was no need for the Declaration of Independence. How does Douglass maintain the order and coherence of the first sentence of this paragraph? Douglass came to believe that documents recording the debates of the framers during the composition of the Constitution, as well as a straight reading of both that document and the Declaration of Independence proved the framers did not intend to preserve the institution of slavery. The great debate among abolitionists in the nineteenth century was whether or not slavery was a pro-slavery document. Does Douglass believe that the United States Constitution is a pro-slavery or an anti-slavery document? The only mention of bills in Article I is in reference to prohibiting states from issuing "bills of credit." Listening to speeches given by Lincoln, it is clear that he intended all men in America to be free. But the self-evidence of natural rights, as Douglass the orator knew, does not guarantee their protection and practice. Douglass also started a weekly journal, The North Star, where he challenged his readers to question the contradiction between America's Christianity and the institution of slavery. 1 The Constitution of the United States: Is It Pro-Slavery or Anti-Slavery? Frederick Douglass believed the United States Constitution was itself an anti-slavery document, a view that differed sharply from that of some abolitionists in the mid-19th century. 1 Frederick Douglass, “The Constitution of the United States: Is it Pro-Slavery or Anti-Slavery?”(Halifax: NS: T. and W. Birtwhistle, 1860). The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States presented the first threat to the durability of the American Equal Rights Association. He believed that the aftermath of the Civil War was the time to advocate for Black citizenship and suffrage. Abolitionists like Garrison believed the entire structure of the Constitution worked against easing the way for emancipation, making the document supportive of slavery. Frederick Douglass after reading the constitution he said, . Yet even at the height of the violence and disenfranchisement of Black people, Douglass found no fault with the Constitution. Frederick Douglass' case for an anti-slavery Constitution. Douglass, a longtime member, announced that under this new policy his paper The North Star was ineligible for their endorsement. Much will be gained at the outset if we fully and clearly understand the real question under discussion. As a slave he grew up believing the constitution is what was allowing for the oppression of slaves. Social Studies. It solved nothing. To him, the fortuitous events of his early life could not be random; rather, they were ordained by a benevolent divine power. Under his new thought, Douglass stated that recent presidential administrations had led the government away from its founding ideals. He opposed socialism and other wealth redistribution schemes. Douglass, influenced by Garrison’s opinions regarding the Constitution, had developed a negative view of the Law of the land. Douglass also wants the nation to re-evaluate what the founding fathers wrote into the constitution and I think it is key that he mentioned that nothing about slavery is mentioned in the constitution and therefore to support what it stands for would be to not support slavery. The debate about the Amendment fractured many of Douglass’s long-term relationships with his women’s rights allies. Douglass’s constantly reconsidered his ideas about the Constitution as the realities of Black life, especially in the South, changed. Frederick Douglass did not always believe the Constitution was an anti-slavery document. A former disciple now attacked the positions of his mentor—positions Douglass himself had defended in public for over a decade—and this generated tension between the two men. In 1841 he met Garrison, who would become his mentor. Personal insults and mean spirited comments will not be tolerated and AAIHS reserves the right to delete such comments from the blog. That sentiment was endorsed by his fellow abolitionist, Wendell Phillips; Ohio Senator Benjamin Wade; and African American activist John Mercer Langston. Why does Douglass state that “education and slavery were incompatible with each other”? In 1851 Douglass began publicly discussing his view that the Constitution, especially in the context of federal jurisdiction, could be used to support emancipation. The American government and the American Constitution are spoken of in a manner which would naturally lead the hearer to believe that the one is identical with the other, when the truth is they are as distinct in character as is a ship and a compass. Enfranchised citizenship was of the utmost importance to Black people. After the Dred Scott decision, Frederick Douglass said he sought to have Americans live up to the principles of the Constitution. What did he believe prevented Americans from living up to the Constitution? NO! Although Douglass originally shared Garrison’s belief that the Constitution's failure to prohibit the forced bondage of African-Americans made it a pro-slavery document, his views began to evolve after touring Europe and establishing his own newspaper, The North Star, in 1848. on Frederick Douglass and the United States Constitution, Submit a Guest Post or Roundtable Proposal. Upon emancipation, Black men wanted those same rights and privileges. I proceed to the discussion. Despite the conflict with friends and allies, he would continue to view the Constitution as the ideal to which the country had yet to fulfill. Tanya Roberts has died after early, inaccurate death report. Women’s rights activists like Anthony and Stanton were appalled by the shift in the suffrage agenda. Douglass’s shift on the Constitution would inform the rest of his career. Whether you’re studying times tables or applying to college, Classroom has the answers. In a speech before the Scottish Anti-Slavery Society in Glasgow, Scotland on March 26, 1860, Frederick Douglass outlines his views on the American Constitution. Yes. 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. The American Anti-Slavery Society established a new policy denouncing any paper that opposed the organization’s belief in the Constitution as a pro-slavery document at its 1851 annual meeting. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton started a weekly newspaper, The Revolution, to articulate their women’s rights agenda. The women’s rights movement in the United States had been strongly linked with the abolition movement. If the Government has been governed by mean, sordid, and wicked passions, it does not follow that the Constitution is mean, sordid, and wicked. What the Constitution means to Frederick Douglass. He wanted to convince the nation that the debts would be handled soon. Douglass does not shy away from declaring his own devotion to Christianity and does not fail to distinguish his faith from that of slaveholders. Frederick Douglass and the Fourth of July, by James A. Colaiaco, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 256 pages, $24.95. How does Douglass use religious references to bolster his claims, such as in the phrase "from the tomb of slavery, to the heaven of freedom"? In 1866, they formed the American Equal Rights Association. However, while Garrison believed the Founding Fathers intentionally preserved the institution of slavery in the Constitution, Douglass eventually came to the opinion that the framers intended the U.S. Constitution to be an evolving document that could be wielded as a weapon against slavery. Frederick Douglass believed the United States Constitution was itself an anti-slavery document, a view that differed sharply from that of some abolitionists in the mid-19th century. https://wjmi.blogspot.com/2014/03/frederick-douglass-on-constitution-and.html It wasn’t until he was free and started to read that he became a student of our Constitution and our founding. In his views on slavery and the Constitution, how does Douglass differ from his fellow abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison (“On the Constitution and the Union” ) and from Abraham Lincoln (Speech on the Repeal of the Missouri Compromise and First Inaugural Address )? In the remainder of Chapter Ten, Douglass gives numerous examples of his courage: intellectual, emotional, spiritual and physical. This allowed him to argue--contrary to everything that most Americans at the time believed and that most historians today believe--that the three-fifths clause punished, rather than rewarded, the South for slavery. Douglass believed that the Constitution of the United States should be protected and respected but he certainly thought that slavery was an abomination and should be stopped. There wasn’t time for slaves to go to school; they had too much work to do Being educated meant that slaves might question their . The United States Constitution specifically permitted slavery. 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