appeal to congress for impartial suffrage answer key

We have thus far only gained a Union without unity, marriage without love, victory without peace. In fact, all the elements of treason and rebellion are there under the thinnest disguise which necessity can impose. 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. The ploughshare of rebellion has gone through the land beam-deep. It is a measure of relief,a shield to break the force of a blow already descending with violence, and render it harmless. History is said to repeat itself, and, if so, having wanted the negro once, we may want him again. What O'Connell said of the history of Ireland may with greater truth be said of the negro's. They are too numerous and useful to be colonized, and too enduring and self-perpetuating to disappear by natural causes. Manuscripts, - BlackPast.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and our EIN is 26-1625373. The South fought for perfect and permanent control over the Southern laborer. From "Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage" Which best describes Douglass's main purpose? It must cause national ideas and objects to take the lead and control the politics of those States. 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. An analogy can explain something unfamiliar by associating it with something more familiar. 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. National interest and national duty, if elsewhere separated, are firmly united here. Once firmly seated in Congress, their alliance with Northern Democrats re-established, their States restored to their former position inside the Union, they can easily find means of keeping the Federal government entirely too busy with other important matters to pay much attention to the local affairs of the Southern States. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. The new wine must be put into new bottles. 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. National interest and national duty, if elsewhere separated, are firmly united here. "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) . 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. 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 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 battlefield; 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. Here they are, four millions of them, and, for weal or for woe, here they must remain. 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. In 1867 Frederick Douglass, noted abolitionist and civil rights leader, weighed in on one of the most contentious issues of the day, suffrage for black men following the Civil War. 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? They now stand before Congress and the country, not complaining of the past, but simply asking for a better future. Is the existence of a rebellious element in our borders--which 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 sword--a reason for leaving four millions of the nation's truest friends with just cause of complaint against the Federal government? As a nation, we cannot afford to have amongst us either this indifference and stupidity, or that burning sense of wrong. Return to the Frederick Douglass library win the trust of an increasingly mistrustful electorate. 1881. It is plain that, if the right belongs to any, it belongs to all. Enfranchise them, and they become self-respecting and country-loving citizens. Disguise it as we may, we are still a divided nation. There is that, all over the South, which frightens Yankee industry, capital, and skill from its borders. 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? 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? 30 seconds. Review Us. 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. 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 must cause national ideas and objects to take the lead and control the politics of those States. Enfranchise them, and they become self-respecting and country-loving citizens. Manuscript/Mixed Material. The South fought for perfect and permanent control over the Southern laborer. 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. Something, too, might be said of national gratitude. African Americans--Washington (D.C.), - The destiny of unborn and unnumbered generations is in your hands. beware of what you do. The dreadful calamities of the past few years came not by accident, nor unbidden, from the ground. 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. 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. History is said to repeat itself, and, if so, having wanted the negro once, we may want him again. King Cotton is deposed, but only deposed, and is ready to-day to reassert all his ancient pretensions upon the first favorable opportunity. Plainly enough, the peace not less than the prosperity of this country is involved in the great measure of impartial suffrage. Foreign countries abound with his agents. For guidance about compiling full citations consult Citing Primary Sources. Many daring exploits will be told to their credit. 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. by John W. Blassingame (transcription project) 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. endobj 865-425-9601. In fact, all the elements of treason and rebellion are there under the thinnest disguise which necessity can impose. 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 In its pages African American studies intellectuals, community activists, and national and international political leaders come to grips with basic issues confronting black America and Africa. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, . If black men have no rights in the eyes of white men, of course the whites can have none in the eyes of the blacks. Q. 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. "An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage." Atlantic Monthly 19 (Jan. 1867): 112-117. SURVEY. Visit American Literature's American History section for other important historical documents and figures which helped shape America. King Cotton is deposed, but only deposed, and is ready to-day to reassert all his ancient pretensions upon the first favorable opportunity. They are able, vigilant, devoted. These facts speak to the better dispositions of the human heart; but they seem of little weight with the opponents of impartial suffrage. Find the collection. If the doctrine that taxation should go hand in hand with representation can be appealed to in behalf of recent traitors and rebels, may it not properly be asserted in behalf of a people who have ever been loyal and faithful to the government? Impartial history will paint them as men who deserved well of their country. It only asks for a large degraded caste, which shall have no political rights. It must cease to recognize the old slave-masters as the only competent persons to rule the South. "Frederick Douglass (African American abolitionist and civil right 's leader), "An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage," January 1867". 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 Besides, the disabilities imposed upon all are necessarily without that bitter and stinging element of invidiousness which attaches to disfranchisement in a republic. National interest and national duty, if elsewhere separated, are firmly united here. 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. Douglass, Frederick. It is nothing against this reasoning that all men who vote are not good men or good citizens. 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? 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. 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. The Rebel States have still an anti-national policy. The work of destruction has already been set in motion all over the South. End of preview Upload your study docs or become a member. 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? United States, series: Speech, Article, and Book File, 1846-1894; Speeches, Articles, and Other Writings Attributed to Frederick or Helen Pitts Douglass, 1881-1887. 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? You shudder to-day at the harvest of blood sown in the spring-time of the Republic by your patriot fathers. beware what you do. 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. These sable millions are too powerful to be allowed to remain either indifferent or discontented. 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. The soil is in readiness, and the seed-time has come. beware what you do. 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. Women's rights, - It is to save the people of the South from themselves, and the nation from detriment on their account. This ends the case. From "Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage" How does Douglass support his claim that African Americans have rendered a "score of past services" to the United States? We want no longer any heavy-footed, melancholy service from the negro. 1 0 obj The answer plainly is, they see in this policy the only hope of saving something of their old sectional peculiarities and power. 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 Besides, the disabilities imposed upon all are necessarily without that bitter and stinging element of invidiousness which attaches to disfranchisement in a republic. What, then, is the work before Congress? The Rebel States have still an anti-national policy. her fellow suffragettes. Statesmen, beware what you do. But of this let nothing be said in this place. The new wine must be put into new bottles. ----, "An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage," (January 1867). 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. They are too numerous and useful to be colonized, and too enduring and self-perpetuating to disappear by natural causes. We have crushed the Rebellion, but not its hopes or its malign purposes. endobj The soil is in readiness, and the seed-time has come. 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. Also, this shows us that American is formed from different race and also different culture that 's what make the US. Assing, Ottilie--Correspondence, - This ends the case. The dreadful calamities of the past few years came not by accident, nor unbidden, from the ground. Statesmen of America! Wells-Barnett, Ida B., 1862-1931--Correspondence, - 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. They are able, vigilant, devoted. Richardson family--Correspondence, - Congress must supplant the evident sectional tendencies of the South by national dispositions and tendencies. The text argues that the central problem of the parties today is how to. %PDF-1.4 Arming the negro was an urgent military necessity three years ago, are we sure that another quite as pressing may not await us? 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? mobilize voters with a declining sense of internal political efficacy. The answers to these questions are too obvious to require statement. The destiny of unborn and unnumbered generations is in your hands. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site. Their history is parallel to that of the country; but while the history of the latter has been cheerful and bright with blessing, theirs has been heavy and dark with agonies and curses. , or . If these bless them, they are blest indeed; but if these blast them, they are blasted indeed. 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.

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