It is true that they came to the relief of the country at the hour of its extremest need. We have crushed the Rebellion, but not its hopes or its malign purposes. Disguise it as we may, we are still a divided nation. 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. It is enough that the possession and exercise of the elective franchise is in itself an appeal to the nobler elements of Women's rights, - 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. It is impossible at this point in time to rid African Americans from the country.2. Oak Ridge High School 1450 Oak Ridge Turnpike Oak Ridge, TN 37830. 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. Man is the only government-making animal in the world. 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. They are too numerous and useful to be colonized, and too enduring and self-perpetuating to disappear by natural causes. 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. It is to save the people of the South from themselves, and the nation from detriment on their account. appeal to moderate voters despite the parties' ideological orientation. 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. Can that statesmanship be wise which would leave the negro good ground to hesitate, when the exigencies of the country required his prompt assistance? <> End of preview Upload your study docs or become a member. National interest and national duty, if elsewhere separated, are firmly united here. We want the cheerful activity of the quickened manhood of these sable millions. National interest and national duty, if elsewhere separated, are firmly united here. Besides, the disabilities imposed upon all are necessarily without that bitter and stinging element of invidiousness which attaches to disfranchisement in a republic. Nations, not less than individuals, reap as they sow. 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. But why are the Southerners so willing to make these sacrifices? King Cotton is deposed, but only deposed, and is ready to-day to reassert all his ancient pretensions upon the first favorable opportunity. Was not the nation stronger when two hundred thousand sable soldiers were hurled against the Rebel fortifications, than it would have been without them? 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. It is supported by reasons as broad as the nature of man, and as numerous as the wants of society. 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 is nothing against this reasoning that all men who vote are not good men or good citizens. Disguise it as we may, we are still a divided nation. It was a war of the rich against the poor. Is not Austria wise in removing all ground of complaint against her on the part of Hungary? The work of destruction has already been set in motion all over the South. The soil is in readiness, and the seed-time has come. It may be traced like a wounded man through a crowd, by the blood. Yet the negroes have marvelously survived all the exterminating forces of slavery, and have emerged at the end of two hundred and fifty years of bondage, not morose, misanthropic, and revengeful, but cheerful, hopeful, and forgiving. We want no longer any heavy-footed, melancholy service from the negro. Forego a bottle of soda and donate its cost to us for the information you just learned, and feel good about helping to make it available to everyone. In fact, all the elements of treason and rebellion are there under the thinnest disguise which necessity can impose. These facts speak to the better dispositions of the human heart; but they seem of little weight with the opponents of impartial suffrage. rhet terms Flashcards | Quizlet JFIF H H Exif MM * b j( 1 r2 i The South fought for perfect and permanent control over the Southern laborer. ? It may be "traced like a wounded man through a crowd, by the blood." The text argues that the central problem of the parties today is how to. Richardson family--Correspondence, - What, then, is the work before Congress? We asked the negroes to espouse our cause, to be our friends, to fight for us and against their masters; and now, after they have done all that we asked them to do, helped us to conquer their masters, and thereby directed toward themselves the furious hate of the vanquished, it is proposed in some quarters to turn them over to the political control of the common enemy of the government and of the negro. If these bless them, they are blest indeed; but if these blast them, they are blasted indeed. They fought the government, not because they hated the government as such, but because they found it, as they thought, in the way between them and their one grand purpose of rendering permanent and indestructible their authority and power over the Southern laborer. repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses, sentences, or lines of poetry. The South does not now ask for slavery. You have read "An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage" by They now stand before Congress and the country, not complaining of the past, but simply asking for a better future. Three years later, the . It must cause national ideas and objects to take the lead and control the politics of those States. An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage Frederick Douglass. Write an essay in which you argue which claims represent the strongest support for ensuring African Americans' right to vote. For better or for worse, (as in some of the old marriage ceremonies,) the negroes are evidently a permanent part of the American population. Loyalty is hardly safe with traitors. 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 A nation might well hesitate before the temptation to betray its allies. But no such an appeal shall be relied on here. Wells-Barnett, Ida B., 1862-1931--Correspondence, - The young men of the South burn with the desire to regain what they call the lost cause; the women are noisily malignant towards the Federal government. 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? All this and more is true of these loyal negroes. Statesmen of America! The Black Scholar 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. 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. "Frederick Douglass (African American abolitionist and civil right 's leader), "An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage," January 1867". The result is a war of races, and the annihilation of all proper human relations. 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. Masses of men can take care of themselves. Exclude the negroes as a class from political rights,--teach 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. Go here for more about FrederickDouglass' Appeal toCongress for ImpartialSuffrage. 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. 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. 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. 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. 865-425-9601. a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate. What is common to all works no special sense of degradation to any. 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. Here they are, four millions of them, and, for weal or for woe, here they must remain. 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. 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. 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. Man is the only government-making animal in the world. answer choices. Hardships, services, sufferings, and sacrifices are all waived. ----, "An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage," (January 1867). 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. Directions. Plainly enough, the peace not less than the prosperity of this country is involved in the great measure of impartial suffrage. The lamb may not be trusted with the wolf. It may be traced like a wounded man through a crowd, by the blood. Yet the negroes have marvellously survived all the exterminating forces of slavery, and have emerged at the end of two hundred and fifty years of bondage, not morose, misanthropic, and revengeful, but cheerful, hopeful, and forgiving. 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. It is no less a crime against the manhood of a man, to declare that he shall not share in the making and directing of the government under which he lives, than to say that he shall not acquire property and education. If these bless them, they are blest indeed; but if these blast them, they are blasted indeed. This ends the case. For better or for worse, (as in some of the old marriage ceremonies,) the negroes are evidently a permanent part of the American population. African American newspapers--New York (State)--Rochester, - 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: An Appeal To Congress For Impartial Suffrage National interest and national duty, if elsewhere separated, are firmly united here. The South will comply with any conditions but suffrage for the negro. It early mastered the Constitution, became superior to the Union, and enthroned itself above the law. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site. 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. An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage - The Atlantic It is supported by reasons as broad as the nature of man, and as numerous as the wants of society. o " These sable millions are too powerful to be allowed to remain either indifferent or discontented. Four specific "thesis" ideas: 1. 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? We have thus far only gained a Union without unity, marriage without love, victory without peace. Foreign countries abound with his agents. Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage - Frederick Douglass 1867 bjfowler 2022-05-17T13:09:32-04:00. You have read "An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage" by Frederick Douglass and "Our God Is Marching On" by Martin Luther King, Jr., two speeches about voting rights for African Americans. Anthony, Susan B. Look across the sea. It is nothing against this reasoning that all men who vote are not good men or good citizens. The fundamental and unanswerable argument in favor of the enfranchisement of the negro is found in the undisputed fact of his manhood. Is the existence of a rebellious element in our borderswhich 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 sworda reason for leaving four millions of the nations truest friends with just cause of complaint against the Federal government? Enfranchise them, and they become self-respecting and country-loving citizens. Helen Douglass papers, - But why are the Southerners so willing to make these sacrifices? Do you find this information helpful? . 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? A small donation would help us keep this available to all. 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. All this and more is true of these loyal negroes. 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. Abolitionists, - 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 comes now in shape of a denial of political rights to four million loyal colored people. The young men of the South burn with the desire to regain what they call the lost cause; the women are noisily malignant towards the Federal government. H H JFIF H H Adobe_CM Adobe d The proposition is as modest as that made on the mountain: "All these things will I give unto thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me.". It is plain that, if the right belongs to any, it belongs to all. The fundamental and unanswerable argument in favor of the enfranchisement of the negro is found in the undisputed fact of his manhood. Manuscripts, - What OConnell said of the history of Ireland may with greater truth be said of the negros.