or will you profit by the blood-bought wisdom all round you, and forever expel every vestige of the old abomination from our national borders? In fact, all the elements of treason and rebellion are there under the thinnest disguise which necessity can impose. ' Is the present movement in England in favor of manhood suffragefor the purpose of bringing four millions of British subjects into full sympathy and co-operation with the British governmenta wise and humane movement, or otherwise? 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 spectacle of these dusky millions thus imploring, not demanding, is touching; and if American statesmen could be moved by a simple appeal to the nobler elements of human nature, if they had not fallen, seemingly, into the incurable habit of weighing and measuring every proposition of reform by some standard of profit and loss, doing wrong from choice, and right only from necessity or some urgent demand of human selfishness, it would be enough to plead for the negroes on the score of past services and sufferings. An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage :: :: University of The Rebel States have still an anti-national policy. Wells-Barnett, Ida B., 1862-1931--Correspondence, - The new wine must be put into new bottles. ----, "An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage," (January 1867). The spectacle of these dusky millions thus imploring, not demanding, is touching; and if American statesmen could be moved by a simple appeal to the nobler elements of human nature, if they had not fallen, seemingly, into the incurable habit of weighing and measuring every proposition of reform by some standard of profit and loss, doing wrong from choice, and right only from necessity or some urgent demand of human selfishness, it would be enough to plead for the negroes on the score of past services and sufferings. A character is demanded of him, and here as elsewhere demand favors supply. If these bless them, they are blest indeed; but if these blast them, they are blasted indeed. End of preview Upload your study docs or become a member. Here they are, four millions of them, and, for weal or for woe, here they must remain. The fundamental and unanswerable argument in favor of the enfranchisement of the negro is found in the undisputed fact of his manhood. But why are the Southerners so willing to make these sacrifices? My Escape from Slavery. Building on two centuries' experience, Taylor & Francis has grown rapidlyover the last two decades to become a leading international academic publisher.The Group publishes over 800 journals and over 1,800 new books each year, coveringa wide variety of subject areas and incorporating the journal imprints of Routledge,Carfax, Spon Press, Psychology Press, Martin Dunitz, and Taylor & Francis.Taylor & Francis is fully committed to the publication and dissemination of scholarly information of the highest quality, and today this remains the primary goal. Bassett, Ebenezer D., 1833-1908--Correspondence, - All this and more is true of these loyal negroes. 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. Congress must supplant the evident sectional tendencies of the South by national dispositions and tendencies. What O'Connell said of the history of Ireland may with greater truth be said of the negro's. Library of Congress; Frederick Douglass Speeches, Debates, and Interviews Vol 1 (1841-1846) ed. 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. 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. The South does not now ask for slavery. 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? But of this let nothing be said in this place. 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 plain that, if the right belongs to any, it belongs to all. Impartial history will paint them as men who deserved well of their country. 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. We have crushed the Rebellion, but not its hopes or its malign purposes. It only asks for a large degraded caste, which shall have no political rights. But upon none of these things is reliance placed. Under the potent shield of State Rights, the game would be in their own hands. Besides, the disabilities imposed upon all are necessarily without that bitter and stinging element of invidiousness which attaches to disfranchisement in a republic. It is a measure of relief,--a shield to break the force of a blow already descending with violence, and render it harmless. 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. It is supported by reasons as broad as the nature of man, and as numerous as the wants of society. As you members of the Thirty-ninth Congress decide, will the country be peaceful, united, and happy, or troubled, divided, and miserable. 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. The Rebel States have still an anti-national policy. It is true that they came to the relief of the country at the hour of its extremest need. All this and more is true of these loyal negroes. Strong as we are, we need the energy that slumbers in the black mans arm to make us stronger. Find an answer to your question Language Development: Convention and Style-from "Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage," Frederick Douglass I need this pl NarminZan20 NarminZan20 01/07/2021 Review Us. 865-425-9601. The soil is in readiness, and the seed-time has come. The American people can, perhaps, afford to brave the censure of surrounding nations for the manifest injustice and meanness of excluding its faithful black soldiers from the ballot-box, but it cannot afford to allow the moral and mental energies of rapidly increasing millions to be consigned to hopeless degradation. The answer plainly is, they see in this policy the only hope of saving something of their old sectional peculiarities and power. A character is demanded of him, and here as elsewhere demand favors supply. the king of England. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site. Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage - Frederick Douglass 1867 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. In fact, all the elements of treason and rebellion are there under the thinnest disguise which necessity can impose. These sable millions are too powerful to be allowed to remain either indifferent or discontented. "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) . 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? answer choices the president of the United States. But of this let nothing be said in this place. 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. 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. As a nation, we cannot afford to have amongst us either this indifference and stupidity, or that burning sense of wrong. But suffrage for the negro, while easily sustained upon abstract principles, demands consideration upon what are recognized as the urgent necessities of the case. It is supported by reasons as broad as the nature of man, and as numerous as the wants of society. Is the present movement in England in favor of manhood suffragefor the purpose of bringing four millions of British subjects into full sympathy and co-operation with the British governmenta wise and humane movement, or otherwise? Their history is parallel to that of the country; but while the history of the latter has been cheerful and bright with blessings, theirs has been heavy and dark with agonies and curses. Helen Douglass papers, - 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. 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? 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. It must cease to recognize the old slave-masters as the only competent persons to rule the South. 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. Something then, not by way of argument, (for that has been done by Charles Sumner, Thaddeus Stevens, Wendell Phillips, Gerrit Smith, and other able men,) but rather of statement and appeal. 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. From "Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage" - Brainly Sitemap. The dreadful calamities of the past few years came not by accident, nor unbidden, from the ground. The spectacle of these dusky millions thus imploring, not demanding, is touching; and if American statesmen could be moved by a simple appeal to the nobler elements of human nature, if they had not fallen, seemingly, into the incurable habit of weighing and measuring every proposition of reform by some standard of profit and loss, doing wrong from choice, and right only from necessity or some urgent demand of human selfishness, it would be enough to plead for the negroes on the score of past services and sufferings. Impartial history will paint them as men who deserved well of their country. Men are so constituted that they largely derive their ideas of their abilities and their possibilities from the settled judgements of their fellow-men, and especially from such as they read in the institutions under which they live.
