To him, the fortuitous events of his early life could not be random; rather, they were ordained by a benevolent divine power. The Constitution would become the lens through which he would advocate for the freedom and natural rights of all people, African Americans and women. 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. It wasn’t until he was free and started to read that he became a student of our Constitution and our founding. 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. As Philip Foner has argued, the transition to political abolitionism made Douglass more moderate and palatable to the masses. 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. What, then, is the question? Follow her on Twitter @NoelleTrentPhD. For Douglass, there was something greater at stake than simply obtaining the right to vote for Black men. But the self-evidence of natural rights, as Douglass the orator knew, does not guarantee their protection and practice. Frederick Douglass March 26, 1860 A Speech Delivered in Glasgow, Scotland …I proceed to the discussion. Douglass expands upon the basic point in the Smith letter in his celebrated speech on the Constitution at Glasgow in 1860. But Assing was more than a lover; she was Douglass' intellectual partner. 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. Douglas had constitutional thoughts, but these thoughts derived more from politics rather than legal training, morality or philosophy. 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. In the decades after the war, he was the most influential African American leader in the nation. Douglass believes that there is no room in the constitution for slavery, and that it was never actually entered into the constitution in the first place. The Fifteenth Amendment was ratified in 1870, granting African American men suffrage. Social Studies. Under his new thought, Douglass stated that recent presidential administrations had led the government away from its founding ideals. The debate about the Amendment fractured many of Douglass’s long-term relationships with his women’s rights allies. 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 women’s rights movement in the United States had been strongly linked with the abolition movement. Douglass also says that if the residents of America believe that slaves are "men",: 342 they should be treated as such. The argument that the Constitution is racist suffers from one fatal flaw: the concept of race does not exist in the Constitution. They began a campaign to push for White women’s suffrage over Black male suffrage.2 Major critiques by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her supporters were based in their belief in the inferiority of Black men. In other writings and speeches, Douglass also praised the antislavery potential of the Constitution (which, I think, he in some respects overstated). Listening to speeches given by Lincoln, it is clear that he intended all men in America to be free. A chart is one thing, the course of the vessel is another. We recognize that there will be disagreement but ask that you be civil about such disagreements. Here Douglass parallels the indignities slaves suffer in a series of infinitive phrases: “… to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty,” etc. What did he believe prevented Americans from living up to the Constitution? But first let me state what is not the question. During the Civil War he worked tirelessly for the emancipation of the four million enslaved African Americans. The Republican Party could not secure the votes to support universal suffrage. . Civil War Trust: The Road to Emancipation, National Archives: Garrison's Constitution, Frederick Douglass: The Constitution and Slavery, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Frederick Douglass. 1. See disclaimer. 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. Frederick Douglass after reading the constitution he said, . 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 . Frederick Douglass' July 4th Oration, "the Constitution is a GLORIOUS LIBERTY DOCUMENT." The amendments established that through the Constitution, the country’s central legal document, African Americans and all people were entitled to civil rights. New book highlights Frederick Douglass’s embrace of the “self-made man” Posted on February 12, 2018. Upon emancipation, universal suffrage was the next goal on the reform agenda especially among the abolitionists and women’s rights groups. He also changed his mind about Garrison’s call to dissolve the Union. 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 )? He employs parallelism, a type of organization in which a writer places similar ideas in a similar structure. position evolved throughout his lifetime. She holds a doctorate in American history for Howard University, and is currently expanding her dissertation Frederick Douglass and the Making of American Exceptionalism into a book. In January 1865, Douglass declared that the “hour of the Negro” had arrived. 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. Does Douglass believe that the United States Constitution is a pro-slavery or an anti-slavery document? Frederick Douglass and the Fourth of July, by James A. Colaiaco, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 256 pages, $24.95. The point from which I am compelled to view them is not, certainly, the most favorable; and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. I proceed to the discussion. Photographs of him show a man of iron determination, with a leonine head and … Each author’s posts reflect their own views and not necessarily those of the African American Intellectual History Society Inc. AAIHS welcomes comments on and vigorous discussion about our posts. Social Studies. He published his new stance in the May 15, 1851 edition of The North Star, stating that his interpretation of the Constitution as an anti-slavery document established a precedent which allowed it to be “wielded on behalf of emancipation.”. 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. Yes. Based on the Word Net lexical database for the English Language. 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. manifest destiny . 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. A quick look at the presidency underscored their view. 1 Frederick Douglass, “The Constitution of the United States: Is it Pro-Slavery or Anti-Slavery?”(Halifax: NS: T. and W. Birtwhistle, 1860). 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. Yet Douglass’ rebuke to both sides presents the way forward: Douglass does not pander to either, but is instead honest and challenges others to the same honesty. Ashley Portero has been covering state and national politics since 2011. As a slave he grew up believing the constitution is what was allowing for the oppression of slaves. 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. © 2020 Leaf Group Ltd. / Leaf Group Media, All Rights Reserved. Stanton and Anthony collected 400,000 signatures in support of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1863, and along with Douglass were ardent supporters of universal suffrage in the aftermath of the war. He soon became a prominent and successful orator and writer. Women’s rights activists like Anthony and Stanton were appalled by the shift in the suffrage agenda. As a slave he grew up believing the constitution is what was allowing for the oppression of slaves. 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. Since slaves are not free, Douglass believes this demonstrates that slavery is not supported by the constitution. 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. It was about demonstrating that Black people were human. Douglass, a longtime member, announced that under this new policy his paper The North Star was ineligible for their endorsement. Celebrities face backlash for jet-setting during pandemic. Douglass’s constantly reconsidered his ideas about the Constitution as the realities of Black life, especially in the South, changed. 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. By the early 1850s, however, Douglass, under the influence of Gerrit Smith, abandoned the position that the U.S. Constitution is proslavery. And first a word about the question. 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 duty of every American citizen to use the Constitution, Douglass challenged the country to reconsider who was a citizen, Black men wanted those same rights and privileges, ardent supporters of universal suffrage in the aftermath of the war, not secure the votes to support universal suffrage, did not protect African Americans from poverty, violence, or disenfranchisement, without the benefits of protection by law enforcement, On the Life of Black Abolitionist Anna Murray Douglass, Women’s Experiences during the American Civil War, Mass Incarceration and the Metaphor of Slavery, Blog Announcement: New Editors and Bloggers, Online Roundtable: Robert T. Chase’s ‘We Are Not Slaves’, Medicalizing Black Military Service in an Age of Global Imperialism. His purpose in the Fourth of … manifest destiny . She received a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism from Emerson College. . Another argument against Douglass’ claim that slavery is unamerican is the fact that within the Constitution, black people are called “three-fifths” (U.S Constitution, Section I) of a person. Douglass drew on the tradition of natural law in his argument against slavery. Hopefully, community members will take time to reflect with family and friends on the distances between our everyday actions and our highest ideals. Why did Alexander Hamilton believe that the national bank was constitutional? The one may point right and the other steer wrong. That sentiment was endorsed by his fellow abolitionist, Wendell Phillips; Ohio Senator Benjamin Wade; and African American activist John Mercer Langston. A. Frederick Douglass was inducted into the AERA as one of its three vice presidents at the organization’s first meeting in May 1866. After the Dred scott decision, Frederick Douglass said he sought to have americans live up to the principles of the constitution. For instance, Garrison and his supporters believed Congress’ limited powers to interfere in the domestic institutions of individual states was included to appease slaveholders in the South. Frederick Douglass after reading the constitution he said, . He opposed socialism and other wealth redistribution schemes. Like all great thinkers, Douglass was a complicated man whose position evolved throughout his lifetime. NO! Before Hamilton took charge of the country, the financial situation was horrible. Classroom is the educational resource for people of all ages. But to Douglass with slavery still not over there was no need for the Declaration of Independence. The Constitution did not permit slavery. 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. They also explore Douglass’ views of the Declaration of Independence—including that the principles expressed in the Declaration are eternal, but America does not live up to them in practice—as well as the Constitution. The only mention of bills in Article I is in reference to prohibiting states from issuing "bills of credit." Yes. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton started a weekly newspaper, The Revolution, to articulate their women’s rights agenda. Douglass’s shift on the Constitution would inform the rest of his career. In 1841 he met Garrison, who would become his mentor. 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. I believe the best way to characterize Douglass’s attitude toward the Founding Fathers would be one of cautious approbation. The complicated aspect of this legacy came after the Civil War during the controversy over the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 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. The two spent much time together, reading everything from Shakespeare to Marx. The highest order of genius is as dependent as is the lowest.” Only after acknowledging that human beings are sub-ordinate within the cosmos and co-ordinate with one another does Douglass begin his celebrated tribute to self-made men. Women’s rights activists like Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucy Stone were also abolitionists. (Douglass believes that a person can't both be a Christian and a slave owner.). African American Intellectual History Society. Douglass also argued that the framers, who in Article 1 of the Constitution included of a 20-year limit on the importation of African slaves, intended the practice of slavery to end after that date. on Frederick Douglass and the United States Constitution, Submit a Guest Post or Roundtable Proposal. Whether you’re studying times tables or applying to college, Classroom has the answers. What does Douglas regret in his memories of his parents. 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