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Frederick Douglass’s America: Race, Justice, and the Promise of the Founding

Peter C. Myers

Standing in the foreground of the Lincoln Memo-rial nearly 50 years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr.,

delivered the most famous speech by any American in the 20th century. In it, he articulated in an unfor-gettable manner the core meaning and mission of America, drawing inspiration, he said, from “the magnificent words” of the nation’s two great found-ing documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. “Eventhoughwemustfacethedifficultiesoftodayandtomorrow,”Kingtoldhisaudience,“Istillhaveadream. It is adreamdeeply rooted in theAmericandream.”AtthecenterofKing’sdreamwasthehope-fulexpectation“thatonedaythisnationwillriseup

andliveout the truemeaningof itscreed—weholdthese truths to be self-evident, that all men are cre-atedequal”—andthat“allmen,yesblackmenaswellaswhitemen,wouldbeguaranteed theunalienablerightsoflife,liberty,andthepursuitofhappiness.”1

ItisappealingtothinkthatKing’sdreamhasbeenrealized,atleastinitsessentials,bythereformsoftheCivil Rights Era—reforms that King himself charac-terizedasthethird,thegreatest,andtheculminatingAmericanRevolution.Inthisreassuringview,theeraofmomentousreformsthatKing’sspeechandactionsdidmuchtoelicitvindicatesthecharacterofAmerica,displaying the nation’s renewed determination tomakegoodonitsoriginalcommitmenttosecuringthe

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Abstract: Nearly 50 years after Martin Luther King delivered his memorable “I have a dream” speech, there is a growing consensus that the civil rights movement, despite some important victories, has been a failure. While conceding that these critics have a point, Peter C. Myers faults them for embracing a radical critique of America that rejects America’s founding principles as racist, abandons the goal of integration, and fosters alienation. To reaffirm the old integrationist faith in America, Myers turns to the renowned 19th century abolitionist and advocate of civil and political equality Frederick Douglass. In America’s dedication to principles of natural human rights set forth in the Declaration of Independence, Douglass found reason to love and identify with his country, despite the injustices that he and his people had suffered. To this day, Douglass endures unequalled as the invincible adversary of racial despair and disaffection—the preeminent exemplar and apostle of hopefulness in the American promise of justice for all.

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equalnaturalrightsofallitsmembers.Inlikemanner,theelectionofBarackObamaasPresidentmightbeviewedastheculminating,climacticeventoftheCivilRights Era, signifying the advent of a “post-racial”America and vindicating once and for all the main-stream, integrationist tradition inAfrican–AmericanpoliticalthoughtlatelyexemplifiedbyKing.1 Thisreassuringviewisnot,however, theprevail-ing opinion among post–Civil Rights Era scholars

and activists concerned with race relations. To thecontrary, among such commentators there appearstobeagrowingconsensusthat,despiteitsimportantvictories, the civil rightsmovementmust be judgedas on thewhole a failure. Proponents of this skepti-cal view cite thepersistence of racial segregation inneighborhoods and schools; the persistence of starkdisparities between black and white Americans invariousmeasuresofsocialandeconomicwell-being;and,mostalarmingly, thedeepeningalienation—the“nihilism,”asCornelWestcandidlynamedit2—preva-lentamongmanyAfrican–Americanslivinginurbanpoverty.Speakingin1993toablackcongregationattheMemphischurchwhereKinghaddeliveredthefi-nalsermonofhislife,PresidentBillClintonlamentedthatKing“didnot liveanddie to see theAmericanfamilydestroyed”or“forthefreedomofpeopletokilleachotherwithrecklessabandon.”3

1 Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a Dream,” in A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., ed. James M. Washington (New York: HarperCollins, 1986), pp. 217, 219.

2 Cornel West, Race Matters (Boston: Beacon Press, 1993), chapter 1.3 William Jefferson Clinton, “Memphis Church of God

in Christ Convention Speech,” November 13, 1993, at http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ wjclintonmemphis.htm (November 8, 2010).

Thosewhoareskepticaloftheclaimofapost-racialAmericahaveapoint.Afair-mindedobservercouldscarcelydenythatformanyAmericans,racestilldoesmatter.Abroadarrayofraciallyfreightedsocialprob-lems persists and even intensifies in the post–CivilRightsEra,inthefaceofwhichtheidealsofthecivilrightscausecannotbesaidtohavebeenfullyrealized.In response, however, influential scholars and activ-istshaveembracedaradicalcritiqueofAmericathatismuchmorelikelytoworsenthoseproblemsthanitistoresolvethem. Itisverydifficulttoseehowtheforward-andup-ward-looking labor required to achieve the endsofjusticeforallandblackelevationinAmericaistobesustainedamidaspreadingsentimentofalienationfromAmerica.Andit isnolessdifficult toseehowthe propagation of the opinion that the AmericanFounders’ostensiblyuniversalprinciplesandosten-sibly free institutionsweremeant to secure the op-pressionofpeopleofcolorcouldfail tospreadandto deepen that demoralizing sentiment. But this istheopinionoftheFoundingand,moregenerally,ofthenation’sbasicmoralarchitecturethatcriticshavepropoundedwidely in today’s schools and univer-sities.For radical critics,America’sbetrayalsof theidealsoflibertyandequalityforallarebetrayalsin thenation’s foundingprinciples rather thanbetray-alsof them. Typifying a view of the Founding now com-mon among scholars of race are remarks by JusticeThurgood Marshall, the first African–AmericanSupremeCourtJusticeandaheroofthelegalstrugglethatpavedthewayfortheCivilRightsEra.InawidelypublicizedspeechcommemoratingtheConstitution’sbicentennial,Marshall asserted that in its infamous-lypro-slavery ruling inDred Scott v. Sandford (1857), the Supreme Court merely “reaffirmed the prevail-ing opinion of the Framers regarding the rights ofNegroes inAmerica.”He claimed thatChief JusticeRogerTaney,writing for theCourt in that case,hadaccuratelydescribedtheFounders’viewswhenheal-legedthatintheFounders’day,blackAmericans

For radical critics, America’s betrayals of the ideals of liberty and equality for all are betrayals in the nation’s founding principles rather than betrayals of them.

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hadformorethanacenturybeforebeenregardedasbeingsofaninferiororder,andaltogetherunfitto associate with the white race…and so far infe-rior,thattheyhadnorightswhichthewhitemanwasbound to respect;and that theNegromightjustlyand lawfullybereduced toslavery forhisbenefit….[N]ooneseemstohavedoubtedthecor-rectnessoftheprevailingopinionofthetime.4

In the opinion shared by Taney, Marshall, andmany present-day professors, teachers, and stu-dents, the stainof racial exclusion suffusesboth theConstitution and the Declaration of Independence.The Declaration’s affirmation, as self-evident truths,of the principles that allmen are created equal andthat theyareendowedby theirCreatorwith theun-alienablerightsoflife,liberty,andthepursuitofhap-pinessisnowcommonlyreadasadeclarationonlyoftherightsofpropertiedwhitemales. Agreatdeal isatstake in thiscritique,anditde-mands a clear, forthright response: These chargesagainsttheFoundersarefalseaswellaspernicious.5 AsAbrahamLincolnandmanyothershaveobserved,the claim that theFounders regardedblacks ornon-whites as beings lacking equal natural rights is alto-getherfalse. James Madison, the commonly acknowledged “Father of the Constitution,” in a speech at theConstitutional Convention denounced slaverygroundedin“themeredistinctionofcolour”as“themost oppressive dominion ever exercised by manover man.”6 Likewise, Thomas Jefferson, the princi-

4 Thurgood Marshall, “Speech at the Annual Seminar of the San Francisco Patent and Trademark Law Associa tion,” May 6, 1987, at http://www.thurgoodmarshall.com/speeches/constitutional_speech.htm (November 8, 2010).

5 For an indispensable rebuttal of this critique, see Thomas G. West, Vindicating the Founders: Race, Sex, Class, and Justice in the Origins of America (Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001), chapter 1.

6 James Madison, “Speech of June 6, 1787,” in Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, Vol. I, ed. Max Farrand (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1911), p. 135.

palauthoroftheDeclarationofIndependence,inhisoriginal draft of that document denounced slavery(notonlytheslavetrade)as“acruelwaragainsthu-mannature”—aninstitutioncreatinganddependingon“amarket,”heemphasizedtoexciteoutrageinhisreaders,“whereMENshouldbebought&sold.”AllthemajorfiguresoftheFoundingforwardedsimilardenunciationsofslavery. ItmustbeacknowledgedthatmostoftheFounders,with notable exceptions,were not racial integration-ists;yetdespitetheirparticulardoubts,racialintegra-tionisalegitimateinferencefromtheirprinciples,asDouglassforcefullyargued. Tocorrectthishistoricalrecordisatonceanintel-lectual,acivic,andamoralimperative,buttoreaffirmthe old integrationist faith in America’s principlesand institutions, it is necessary (if not sufficient) torecover the Founders’ actual opinions about slaveryand race. It is particularly important also to pay re-newed attention to the most thoughtful apostles oftheintegrationistfaithamongthemajorfiguresofthe

African–Americanprotesttradition.Suchattentionisproperlydirectedtoward,butalsobeyond,theiconsof the recent era of reform. With due respect toKing and to other stalwartsof the 20th-centurymovement, I submit that in thesearchforthemostthoughtfulproponentsofthepro-integration, pro-America argument, there is nowor-thierobjectofourattentionthanthelifeandthoughtofthegreatestoftheir19th-centurypredecessors,therenownedabolitionistandadvocateofcivilandpoliti-calequalityFrederickDouglass. Douglass endures unequalled as the invincibleadversary of racial despair and disaffection—thepre-eminentexemplarandapostleofhopefulnessin

As Abraham Lincoln and many others have observed, the claim that the Founders regarded blacks or nonwhites as beings lacking equal natural rights is altogether false.

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theAmericanpromiseofjusticeforall.7Attheheartofall thathe learnedandtaughtwerethesesimplepropositions:

• That the natural-rights principles epitomized in the Declaration of Independence were univer-sally and permanently true;

• That the everlasting glory of America’s Founding lay in its dedication to those principles; and

• That the salvation of the nation lay in its rededi-cation to them.

Aformidablethinkeraswellasanactivistandapolemicist, Frederick Douglass produced the mostpowerfulargument for theaffirmationof thoseprin-ciples in the history of African–American politicalthought.

The LiFe AnD Times oF FReDeRick DougLAss Space permits here only a brief sketch ofDouglass’s singularly remarkable life story, whichsheds much light on the formation of his politi-cal philosophy.8 The boy who became FrederickDouglasswasborn,enslaved,onMaryland’sEasternShore in February 1818 and given the improbablydignified name Frederick Augustus WashingtonBailey.Despitethatglimmerofdignityathisorigin,theyearofhisbirthandtheidentityofhisownfatherremained unknown to him throughout his life.Hebarelyknewhismother,whodiedshortlybeforeorafterheturnedeightyearsold. Astheauthorofthreeautobiographies,Douglassframedhislifestoryasaseriesofreversalsoffortune

7 I develop this argument at length in Frederick Douglass: Race and the Rebirth of American Liberalism (Lawrence, Kan.: University Press of Kansas, 2008).

8 The reader interested in a fuller account of Douglass’s life should begin by reading Douglass’s autobiographies: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845); My Bondage and My Freedom (1855); and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881; expanded 1892).

suggestiveof thepossibilityof liberating revolution-arychange.ThefirstofhispositivereversalsoccurredashewassenttoserveasahouseslaveinBaltimore,where,aidedbyhiskindlyslavemistressSophiaAuld,he learned the rudiments of literacy. When HughAuld, Sophia’s husband, promptly forbade furtherinstructionforthereasonthatliteracywouldforeverunfittheboyforslavery,youngFrederickgainedare-velatoryinsightintotheevildesignofslaveryandthesurepathtoliberation. Theclimacticreversalinhisyouthcamewhenheresolved to resist, and successfully resisted, a cruelslavemaster’s attempt towhiphim.His forceful re-sistance proved no less powerfully liberating thanhis literacy. “Iwasnothing before,” he wrote in his autobiography, reflecting on the episode. “I was a man now.”9

From that moment on, Frederick Bailey was re-solved to escape slavery—or die trying.His carefulplanning paid off in September 1838, when he fledBaltimoredisguisedasa seamanandmadehiswayultimatelytoNewBedford,Massachusetts,wherehesettled,anewlymarriedman,andtookthesurnameDouglassfromtheheroinSirWalterScott’sepicpoemThe Lady of the Lake.Thereheworkedproudlyasadaylaborer and refined his oratorical powers, both as alay preacher in New Bedford’s African MethodistEpiscopal Zion Church and as a participant in themeetingsoflocalblackabolitionists. HislifewastransformedyetagaininAugust1841,when the nation’s foremost abolitionist, WilliamLloyd Garrison, heard him speak at meetings in

9 Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom, in Frederick Douglass: Autobiographies (New York: Library of America, 1994), p. 286.

In the search for the most thoughtful proponents of the pro-integration, pro-America argument, there is no worthier object of our attention than the renowned abolitionist and advocate of civil and political equality Frederick Douglass.

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New Bedford and Nantucket, Massachusetts, andpromptlyofferedhimapositionasalecturerfortheMassachusettsAnti-SlaverySociety. In thatposition,Douglass’sfamegrewrapidly,andwithitcamecon-troversyandheightenedpersonaldanger. Doubts arose as to whether so skilled an oratorcouldeverhavebeenaslave,andDouglassrespond-ed bywriting his first autobiography. His story, aninstantbestseller,succeededinconfirminghisverac-ity,butat thecostofattractinggreatly intensifiedat-tention from fugitive slavecatchers. InAugust 1845,twomonthsafterhisbookwaspublished,DouglassfledtoGreatBritain,wherehisspeecheswonhimin-ternationalfame.Twentymonthslater,hereturnedafreemanbylaw,hisfreedomhavingbeenpurchasedwithfundsraisedbyEnglishfriends,andresumedhisabolitionistlaborsintheU.S.Hereturnedalsoamoreconfidentand independent thinker, and in late1847,againstGarrison’sadvice,helaunchedhisownnews-paper,originallytitledThe North Star.

Douglass’s new office as editor broadened hiseducation as an abolitionist, and over the next fewyears,hisdifferenceswithhiserstwhilementorsgrewmore pronounced. His final break with Garrisoncame in 1851, when he announced that he had come to reject the core Garrisonian doctrine that the U.S.Constitution was a pro-slavery instrument. His em-braceoftheargumentsoftherival“politicalabolition-ist”schoolfreedhimtoinvolvehimselfinpolitics,andhisincreasingpoliticalactivismthroughthe1850sandintotheCivilWaryearseventuallybroughthimfacetofacewithPresidentAbrahamLincoln—firstintherole of harshly critical petitioner and later, after the

Emancipation Proclamation and the deepening oftheir acquaintance, as Lincoln’s valued adviser andfriend. Inthepostwardecades,Douglass’sinitiallybrighthopesforrapid,lastingreformsfadedasthenation’sgoverningmajority,weary of conflict, flagged in itscommitmenttoenforcingthecivilandpoliticalrightsof the freedpeople in theex-rebel states.Undauntedbythesesetbacks,however,hemaintainedtotheendastrenuousscheduleofspeakingandwriting,laboringto remind the succeeding generations that “there was arightsideandawrongsideinthelatewar”andtopropagatehisundyingfaithinthemissionandprom-iseofAmerica.Ashegatheredhisenergiestoprepareyetanotherlectureontheimperativeofequaljusticeforall,hesufferedasuddenheartattackorstrokeanddiedonFebruary20,1895. Douglass’s great causewas integration, andhisgreat themewashopefulness—rationally groundedhopefulness—inAmerica’scapacitytosecurejusticeforall,irrespectiveofrace,color,sex,orcreed.Onceagain, thathopefulnesswasgroundedprimarily inhis appreciation of the unique virtue ofAmerica’sbeginning; “first things are always interesting,” helikedtosay,10andmostofallinthecaseofanewna-tiondedicatedtouniversalprinciplesofjustice. That appreciation was, however, specific to thematurityofhisthought.Howheacquireditisapartof his storynot to beneglected. ForDouglass’sulti-matelyirrepressiblefaithinAmericawasnotatallanaturalinheritanceoraneasyacquisition.Tothecon-trary,itwasahard-wonachievement,andassuch,itcontainsvaluablelessonsforallAmericansandespe-ciallyforthosewho,liketheyoungDouglasshimself,findthemselvesdispiritedabouttheirplaceandpros-pectsintheircountry.

10 See, for example, Douglass, “Speech at the Unveiling of the Freedmen’s Monument in Memory of Abraham Lincoln,” April 14, 1876, in The Frederick Douglass Papers: Series One, Vol. IV, ed. John W. Blassingame and John R. McKivigan (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979–1992), p. 430 (hereinafter Douglass Papers).

Douglass labored to remind succeeding generations that “there was a right side and a wrong side” in the Civil War and to propagate his undying faith in the mission and promise of America.

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uP FRom ALienATion: DougLAss’s AboLiTionisT YeARs SpeakingtotheGarrisonianAmericanAnti-SlaverySocietyin1847,ayouthfulDouglassposedapoignantquestion and supplied a dispiriting answer. “WhatcountryhaveI?”heasked,amemberofaraceplacedoutsidetheprotectionsoflaw,andanswered,“Ihavenopatriotism.Ihavenocountry.”Hecouldfeelnoat-tachment toAmerica, he explained, for reasons thatrandeeperthanthecountry’sunjustpractices.Hecon-demnednotonlyAmerica’s“Government,”butalsoits“Constitution” for “supporting and perpetuating thismonstroussystemofinjusticeandblood.”11

That Douglass sympathized, for a period in hisyouth,withanti-Americaradicalismishardlysurpris-ing.Whenhespokethosewordshewaslessthan10yearsremovedfromthedepredationsofslavery,andthepositionhetookinthat1847speechreiteratesthesignature doctrine of his early Garrisonianmentors,forwhomcondemnationoftheConstitutionasavil-lainous compromisewith slavery represented an ar-ticleofabolitionistfaith. Moreover,theincreasingincidenceofdespairingextremismamongmanyabolitionistsduringthispe-riodwasabettedbyaseriesofportentousevents.Tomany,theU.S.warwithMexicoin1846signifiedanimperialisteffort toexpandthenumberandpowerofslaveholdingstatesat thenational level,and theFugitive Slave Law of 1850—“that most foul andfiendish of all human decrees,” Douglass wouldcall it12—effectively nationalized slavery, conscript-ing non-slaveholding states and citizens in the re-captureofpersonsfleeing for freedom. Inresponse,GarrisonintensifiedhiscallsforthedissolutionoftheAmericanUnion,whileinfluentialblackabolitionistsurged blacks to surrender their hopes in America

11 Douglass, “Speech at the American Anti-Slavery Society,” May 11, 1847, in The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass, Vol. I, ed. Philip S. Foner (New York: International Publishers, 1950–75), p. 236 (hereinafter Life and Writings).

12 Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” July 5, 1852, in Douglass Papers, Vol. II, p. 375.

and emigrate. Thousands of black Americans didjustthat. Whatisremarkable,then,isnotthatDouglassfeltalienatedfromhiscountryformostofthe1840s,butratherthat,bytheforceofhischaracterandintellect,heovercamethisalienationasrapidlyandthoroughlyas he did. Spirited and independent-minded by na-ture,Douglasscouldabidementorsonlytoalimiteddegreeevenasayoungman. But itwasuponbecoming the editorofhisownpaperthathismindtrulyquickened.Hisnewdutiesin that office compelled him, as he later wrote, “tore-think thewhole subject, and to study,with somecare,notonlythejustandproperrulesoflegalinter-pretation,buttheorigin,design,nature,rights,pow-ers,anddutiesofcivilgovernment.”13Thisrethinking,he reported,brought about “a radical change inmyopinions.”14AtthecenterofthatchangewasaradicalreappraisaloftheAmericanFounding. Douglasspubliclyannouncedhischangeofopin-ioninthespringof1851,buthismostpowerfulstate-ment of his revised view appears, fittingly enough,inhisspeechatanIndependenceDaycelebrationin1852.Inthatspeech,oftenconsideredthegreatestofall abolitionist speeches, he excoriatedAmerica’s in-justicesno lessvigorously thanhe everhad, buthetookgreatcaretodistinguishAmerica’spracticefromits first principles and the actions of its subsequentgenerations from those of its Founders. “ThesignersoftheDeclarationofIndependence,”Douglass told his audience that day, “were bravemen. Theywere greatmen too…. Theywere states-men, patriots and heroes.” In his discerning view,however,themainsourceoftheirgreatness—thevir-tuethatenabledthemtobemorethanrevolutionaries,the Founders ofagreatrepublic—inherednotintheirbravery but in their dedication to the “eternal prin-ciples,”the“savingprinciples,”setforthintheunique

13 Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom, in Autobiographies, p. 392.

14 Ibid.

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revolutionarydocumenttheydaredtosign.“Yourfa-thers, the fathers of this republic, did,most deliber-ately…andwithasublimefaithinthegreatprinciplesof justice and freedom, laydeep the corner-stoneofthenationalsuperstructure,whichhasrisenandstillrisesingrandeuraroundyou….Markthem!”15

Intruth,DouglasshadlongadmiredtheDeclarationandtheRevolution;butnow,havingbrokenwiththeGarrisonianvariantofabolitionism,hehadcome toadmire thewhole of the Founding, because he hadcome to judge theConstitution to be faithful to thesavingprinciplesoftheDeclaration.Thechargeofapro-slavery Constitution was “a slander upon [the]memory” of the Framers, he contended; “interpret-edasitoughttobeinterpreted,theConstitutionisa glorious liberty document.” Consider “the consti-tutionaccording to itsplain reading,”Douglasscon-tinued, “and I defy thepresentation of a single pro-slaveryclauseinit.Ontheotherhanditwillbefoundtocontainprinciplesandpurposes,entirelyhostiletotheexistenceofslavery.”16

Buildingonthe ingeniousargumentsof the19th-centurylegaltheoristLysanderSpooner,Douglassar-guedthatthepassagesintheConstitution’stextthatadmitofsomeambiguity,suchastheclausescommon-lyheldtoconcernslavery,mustbeinterpretedinlightofthelargerendsor“objects”oftheConstitutionassetforthinthePreamble.Aboveall,theConstitutionmustbeinterpretedin lightof itscommitmenttose-curetheblessingsoflibertyforall.Thiscommitmentnotonlyappears in thePreamble,butalsoreflectsa

15 Douglass, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” in Douglass Papers, Vol. II, pp. 364–365.

16 Ibid., pp. 384–385.

bedrockruleoflegalinterpretation—arule“asoldaslaw”itself,Douglassobserved,andgroundedintheverynatureoflaw,accordingtowhichalegalinstru-ment “must be construed strictly in favor of libertyandjustice.”17

In Douglass’s argument, these interpretive prin-ciplesyieldedpowerfullyanti-slaveryresults.Infact,hecontended,theConstitutionwasmorethanmerelyanti-slavery.Itdidmuchmore,thatis,thanconveytheFramers’generaldisapprovalofslaveryandtheirde-signtorecognizeslaveryonlyasalocalinstitution,totolerateitonlyasanecessary,temporaryevil,andtocontainitsexpansiontotheendofpromotingitseven-tualabolition.Thislatter,ofcourse,wasthepositionofLincolnandofthemoderatecenteroftheFreeSoilandRepublicanpartiesduringthe1850s.Thepositionof Douglass and constitutional radicals, by contrast,was that the Constitution was in the strict sense aboli-tionist.Slavery, in theirview,wassimplyunconstitu-tional; theConstitutiondelegated to the federalgov-ernmentboththerightandthedutytoabolishslaveryimmediately,everywhereintheUnion.18

Theonethingneedful,then,wastoelectanaboli-tionistgoverningmajorityatthefederallevel.Seekingsuchaconsummation,Douglasshurledhimself intopoliticalactivismthroughoutthe1850s. ThepersistenceofDouglass’shopeful,energeticac-tivismduringthatverydifficultdecadedeservesfur-thercomment.Letusconsiderfirstthedifficulties.The1850switnessedaseriesofwhat,tomany,musthaveappearedtobecatastrophicsetbacksfortheabolition-istcause,beginningwiththeexecratedFugitiveSlaveLawof1850,includingalsotheKansas–NebraskaActof 1854, and culminating in theDred Scott ruling in1857.Thefirstofthose,describedabove,wasthemostflagrantlypro-slavery legislation inU.S.history.TheKansas–NebraskaAct reverseda federalprohibitionofslaverywithinthosetwoterritories,thusbetraying

17 Douglass, “Speech on the Dred Scott Decision,” May 11, 1857, in Life and Writings, Vol. III, p. 418.

18 Douglass, “The Republican Party—Our Position,” in Life and Writings, Vol. II, pp. 380–382.

What is remarkable is not that Douglass felt alienated from his country for most of the 1840s, but rather that, by the force of his character and intellect, he overcame this alienation as rapidly and thoroughly as he did.

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theprinciplesoftheDeclarationbymakingmoralin-differencetoslaverytheguidingprincipleoffederalpolicyandpromptinganalarmedAbrahamLincolnto return to electoral politics.Worst of allwasDred Scott,inwhichthenation’shighestcourtendorsedthepro-slavery, white-supremacist reading propagatedbyboth theConstitution’sGarrisonian enemies andslavery’smostdetermineddefenders.

Inhissuccessiveresponsestothesedevelopments,Douglass expressed not despair but rising hopeful-ness.Concludinghis JulyFourthoration in1852,hereassuredhisaudience,“Idonotdespairofthiscoun-try….‘ThearmoftheLordisnotshortened,’andthedoom of slavery is certain.”19 Stronger still was hisstatementfollowingtheDred Scott ruling:“Myhopeswerenever brighter thannow….Comewhatwill, Ihold it tobemorallycertainthat,sooneror later,byfairmeansorfoulmeans,inquietorintumult…slav-ery isdoomedtoceaseoutof thisotherwisegoodlyland,andlibertyisdestinedtobecomethesettledlawofthisRepublic.”20

This seemingly contrarian hopefulness was nomereexerciseinmorale-boosting.Douglassfoundsol-idreasonsforbelievingwhatherepeatedlyaffirmedthroughout the decade, as in his Dred Scott speech:

Ibasemysenseof thecertainoverthrowof slav-ery, in part, upon the nature of the AmericanGovernment, the Constitution, the tendenciesof the age, and the character of the American

19 Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” in Douglass Papers, Vol. II, pp. 386–387.

20 Douglass, “Speech on the Dred Scott Decision,” in Life and Writings, Vol. II, pp. 411, 414.

people….IknowofnosoilbetteradaptedtothegrowthofreformthanAmericansoil.Iknowofnocountrywhere the conditions for affecting greatchangesinthesettledorderofthings,forthedevel-opmentofrightideasoflibertyandhumanity,aremorefavorablethanhereintheseUnitedStates….The Constitution, as well as the Declaration ofIndependence,andthesentimentsofthefoundersoftheRepublic,giveusaplat-formbroadenough,andstrongenough, to support themost compre-hensiveplansforthefreedomandelevationofallthepeopleofthiscountry,withoutregardtocolor,class,orclime.21

Douglass believed that slavery was doomed,firstandforemost,becausehebelievedthatthelawof nature as epitomized in theDeclarationwas, atsomedeep level, not only truebut known or felt to betruebyallconcernedintheconflictoverslavery.Theimplicationwasthattheagitationthatabolition-istshadbeguncouldneverbefinallypacifieduntilslaverywasfinallyabolished.“Thefactis,”Douglassobservedashereviewedthesuccessionoffailedat-tempts to quiet the controversy over slavery, “themorethequestionhasbeensettled, themore ithasneeded settling…. All measures devised…to allayand diminish the antislavery agitation, have onlyserved to increase, intensify, and embolden thatagitation.”22

InwhatturnedouttobeDouglass’smostprescientargument,slavery’sdemisewouldcomeaboutinthefollowingsequenceofevents.

• Slavery’s primary victims, mostly knowing nothing of the Declaration itself, would corrobo-rate its truth by their various acts of resistance, displaying their natural love of liberty and their moral humanity as rights-possessors.

• These displays of humanity would naturally

21 Ibid., pp. 414–415.22 Ibid., pp. 410, 412.

The Constitution was in the strict sense aboli-tionist. Slavery was simply unconstitutional; the Constitution delegated to the federal gov-ernment both the right and the duty to abolish slavery immediately, everywhere in the Union.

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arouse the sympathy of non-slaveholders, a few of whom at first, and more with the passage of time, would take up the cause of abolition.

• The rise of this abolitionist agitation would alarm slaveholders, who would respond by attempting to suppress abolitionist speech and to strengthen and perpetuate their political power by expand-ing slavery’s presence in federal territories, thus preparing the admission of additional slave states.

• Northerners, remembering their revolutionary heritage enough, at least, to remain vigilant in defense of their own rights, would increasingly view these actions as aggressions until the point was reached that slaveholders, by their own imperial overreach, had assembled a coalition of enemies too large for them to defeat.23

DougLAss AnD LincoLn WiththeelectionofthefirstRepublicanPresidentin1860,Douglass’shopefulpredictionswouldsoonbe vindicated, but this was not what he initiallyexpected of an Abraham Lincoln Administration.Although the election meant that “a new order ofevents…isnowfairlyopeninguponthecountry,”hereservedjudgmentastojusthowsignificantachangewas inprospect.HeallowedthatLincoln’selection“has demonstrated the possibility of electing…an anti-slavery reputationtothePresidencyoftheUnited

23 See especially Douglass, “The Doom of the Black Power,” July 27, 1855, in Life and Writings, Vol. II, pp. 364–366. I explain Douglass’s argument more elaborately in Frederick Douglass, pp. 72–82.

States.”24Butan“anti-slaveryreputation”wasafarcryfromagenuineabolitionist,inDouglass’sestima-tion,andDouglassatfirstexpectedlittleofLincoln,whodidnotsharehisradicallyabolitionistreadingof the Constitution. Foritsfirst18months,DouglassfoundinLincoln’spresidency mostly a confirmation of his doubts.WhereasDouglassfromtheoutsetcalledurgentlyandinsistentlyfortheCivilWar’sprosecutionasan“abo-litionwar,”Lincolnsawinsuchacourseofactiononlyaself-destructiverashness—aprematureradicalizingofthewar,mostlikelytoresultinthedisaffectionofvitalalliesand,ultimately,thecatastrophicfailureoftheUnioncause. Douglass’s mind was opened to the wisdom ofLincoln’sstatesmanshipashecametoseethedepthof Lincoln’s commitment to the anti-slavery cause.“Inhisheartofhearts,”Douglasswould later reflect,Lincoln “loathed and hated slavery.”25 The founda-tion of this deepened appreciation was of courseLincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, promised inSeptember1862anddeliveredthefollowingJanuary.“This proclamation changed everything,” Douglass

laterrecalled.Butthefinal,unimpeachableconfirma-tion of Lincoln’s anti-slavery commitment came forDouglass inAugust 1864, when the President, fear-ingthatademoralizedelectoratewouldsoonforceaprematureendtothewar,summonedDouglasstotheWhiteHousetodiscussacovertschemeforliberatingasmanyaspossibleinthemeantime.“What[Lincoln]saidonthisday,”Douglasswroteinhisfinalautobi-ography,“showedadeepermoralconvictionagainst

24 Douglass, “The Late Election,” December 1860, in Life and Writings, Vol. II, p. 528 (emphasis in original).

25 Ibid., p. 437.

Douglass believed that slavery was doomed, first and foremost, because he believed that the law of nature as epitomized in the Declaration of Independence was, at some deep level, not only true but known or felt to be true by all concerned in the conflict over slavery.

Douglass’s mind was opened to the wisdom of Lincoln’s statesmanship as he came to see the depth of Lincoln’s commitment to the anti-slavery cause.

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slavery than Ihadeverseenbefore inanythingspo-kenorwrittenbyhim.”26

In time, Douglass came to see the wisdom inLincoln’s prudent statesmanship, as he acknowl-edgedinhismostdevelopedreflectiononLincoln,hisspeechattheunveilingoftheFreedmen’sMonumentto Lincoln in 1876.Although abolitionists includingDouglasshadassailedLincolnforhisseemingreluc-tancetostrikeatslavery,DouglassnowconcededthesuperiorityofLincoln’sjudgment:

Had he put the abolition of slavery before thesalvationoftheUnion,hewouldhaveinevitablydrivenfromhimapowerfulclassoftheAmericanpeople and rendered resistance to rebellion im-possible….Measuringhimbythesentimentofhiscountry,asentimenthewasboundasastatesmantoconsult,hewasswift,zealous,radical,andde-termined.27

Through long and deep reflection, Douglass fi-nally came to regard Lincoln as “the one man…towhomwearemoreindebtedforaUnitedNationandforAmerican liberty than toanyother…thegreateststatesmanthateverpresidedoverthedestiniesofthisRepublic.”28

Lincoln’s assassinationwas “the crowning crimeofslavery,”asDouglassdeclaredinhis1876memorial,anditwasalsoadamagingblowtohopesfora justand prudent policy for the nation’s postwar recon-struction. Profoundly aggrieved by that “hell-black”crime, Douglass yet struggled characteristically tofindinitcauseforhope.Sofarasit“filledthecoun-trywithadeeperabhorrenceofslaveryandadeeperlove for the great liberator,” themurder of Lincoln,

26 Douglass, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, in Frederick Douglass: Autobiographies, pp. 790, 795–797.

27 Douglass, “Speech at the Unveiling of The Freedmen’s Monument in Memory of Abraham Lincoln,” April 14, 1876, in Douglass Papers, Vol. IV, p. 436.

28 Douglass, “Address on the Twentieth Anniversary of Emancipation,” April 16, 1883, in Douglass Papers, Vol. V, p. 78.

hehoped,wouldarouseinthewar-wearynationthespirittocontinueandcompleteLincoln’swork—andDouglass’sown—inthepostwaryears.29 So he labored on in those years, cherishing thememoryofLincolninpartforhisown,personalrea-sons and calling his fellow citizens also to veneratetheGreatEmancipatorthattheymightbeboundevermore firmly to the great cause forwhich he and somanyloyalcitizenshaddied:tobringforthoutoftheterriblewararenewednation,reconceivedinlibertyand rededicated to the proposition that allmen arecreatedequal.

noThing buT FAiR PLAY: The PosTwAR YeARs Viewing it amid the grand course of human events, Douglass saw in the CivilWar an event of epochalmoral significance. The Union victory signified, forDouglass,muchmorethanthedefeatofoneparticularrebellionandmore,too,thanthedefeatofthetrouble-someparticulardoctrinesthatinspiredthatrebellion.Viewed in its larger significance, the Union victorymeantavictorynotonlyoveranextreme, implicitlyanarchicvariantofthestate-sovereigntydoctrine,butalsooverthenolessperniciousdoctrinesofsectional-ismandracialsupremacy.ItmadeofAmericans“onegloriousandhomogeneouspeople”(asDouglasssaidof the Emancipation Proclamation)30 and elevatedAmericatoitsrightfulplaceamongnationsasexem-plarofthehumanitarianspiritoftheage.

29 Douglass, “Speech at the Unveiling of The Freedmen’s Monument,” April 14, 1876, in Life and Writings, Vol. IV, p. 319.

30 Life and Writings, Vol. III, p. 274.

Douglass finally came to regard Lincoln as “the one man…to whom we are more indebted for a United Nation and for American liberty than to any other…the greatest statesman that ever presided over the destinies of this Republic.”

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“Everynation,owingtoitspeculiarcharacterandcomposition, has a definite mission in the world,”Douglass observed in 1869, but America’s mission,clearer thanever in theaftermathof thewar,marksit as exceptional.America’smissionanddestinyareto supply“the [most]perfectnational illustrationofthe unity anddignity of the human family that theworldhaseverseen.”Thisistheessentialbequestof“our fundamental principles of government, world-embracingintheirscopeandcharacter.”31TheUnionvictory, in Douglass’s view, signified a momentousvictoryforagrandpoliticsofintegration. Douglasslaboredthroughouthispostwarcareertopreserveandpropagate thisenlarged,moralizedun-derstandingamongawar-weary loyalistpopulationlongingforreunionandastablepeace.Thegravedan-gerwasthatreunionandpeacewouldbepurchasedat the costofobscuring themoralprinciples that re-mainedincontest.ForDouglassespecially,thestakesof that contestwerematters of concrete urgency aswellasoflargernationaldestiny.Centraltotheques-tionofthewar’s largermoral legacywasthefateofthosewithwhomhepeculiarlyidentified:thoselatelyemancipated. As he renewed his labors for justice and prog-ressforthefreedpeople,Douglasshadtoconfrontanettlesomequestion,lingeringinthemindsevenofmanyanti-slaverywhites, thathad longobstructedthe abolitionist cause. “Everybody has asked thequestion,” he complained in early 1865, “and theylearned to ask it early of the abolitionists, ‘Whatshallwe dowith the negro’” after emancipation?32 Douglass’sresponsewasdisarminglyblunt.“Ihavehad but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing withus!Yourdoingwithushasalreadyplayedthemischiefwith us…. [If] theNegro cannot stand onhisownlegs, lethimfall….All Iask is,givehima

31 Douglass, “Our Composite Nationality,” December 7, 1869, in Douglass Papers, Vol. IV, p. 253.

32 Douglass, “What the Black Man Wants,” January 1, 1865, in Douglass Papers, Vol. IV, p. 68.

chancetostandonhisownlegs!Lethimalone!”33 This response epitomizes Douglass’s career-longinsistenceonthecultivationofself-reliantvirtueastheprimarymeansofelevationfromthedegradedcondi-tioninwhichmanyyearsofslaveryandproscriptionhad leftmostblackAmericans.Buthis“Donothingwith us!” rhetoric, oversimplified for emphasis, hasbeenmisunderstoodbycriticswhoreaditliterallyasadenialofpublicobligationandajustificationofpub-

lic indifference toward the freedpeople. Formulatedmore precisely, his demand “Let [theNegro] alone”meant“Givehimfairplayandlethimalone,butbe sure you give him fair play.”34Initsmostgeneralmean-ing,“fairplay”or justice toblackAmericanswastobedeterminedbyaprincipleofnon-exceptionalism.AsheexplainedtoanaudienceofBostonabolitionistsinearly1862,fairplaymeantthattherulingmajorityshould“donothingwithus,byus,orforusas a par-ticular class….Thebroadestandbitterestoftheblackman’smisfortunes is the fact that he is everywhereregarded and treated as an exceptiontotheprinciplesandmaximswhichapplytoothermen.”35 Initsconcreteapplications,Douglass’sprincipleoffairplaymeantfirstthatthewhitemajoritymustrefrain from various courses of action whereby itmight be tempted to evade rather than to resolveproperly theproblemof race relations.Speaking inmid-1863onthequestion“Whatshallbedonewiththe Negro?” he specified four altogether objection-

33 Ibid.34 Douglass, “Let the Negro Alone,” May 11, 1869, in Douglass

Papers, Vol. IV, pp. 202–203 (emphasis added).35 Douglass, “The Future of the Negro People of the Slave States,”

in Life and Writings, Vol. III, p. 218 (emphasis added).

“Every nation, owing to its peculiar character and composition, has a definite mission in the world,” Douglass observed in 1869, but America’s mission, clearer than ever in the aftermath of the Civil War, marks it as exceptional.

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ableresponses.Fairplaymeantatminimumthatthenationmust reject thealternativesof (1) re-enslave-ment, this time of the entire blackAmerican popu-lation;(2)colonizationorexpatriation;(3)persistingsubordinationofblacksasadegradedcaste;and(4)outrightextermination.Ofthesefourpossibilities,hewasespeciallyfearfulofthethirdinviewoftheter-ribledamageitwoulddo—bothdirectlytothechar-acterandmoraleofitsprimaryvictimsandindirectlyto theentire country.“Theeffectofabolishingslav-ery,withoutconferringequalrights,”hecontended,“wouldbe[todoom]thecoloredracetoaconditionindescribablywretchedand thedreadful contagionoftheirvicesandcrimeswouldflylikecholeraandsmallpoxthroughallclasses.Woe,woe!tothisland,when it strips fivemillions of its people of allmo-tivesforcultivatinganuprightcharacter.”36 Theonly“solid, and finalsolutionoftheproblembeforeus,”Douglassinsisted,wasalsotheonlyjustsolution:“themostperfect civilandpoliticalequal-ity” such that blackAmericans “shall enjoy all therights, privileges and immunities enjoyed by anyothermembersofthebodypolitic.”37Initsprimarymeaning, Douglass’s fair-play, non-exceptionalismprinciple entailed simple equality under law, irre-spectiveofraceorcolor,butinthedecadesfollowingthewar,hewasmosturgentlyconcernedwithequalprotectionfortworightsinparticular:votingrightsandpropertyrights.

Voting Rights and Property Rights “Wewant[thevotingright],”Douglassexplainedinhismostextendeddiscussionofthequestion,“be-cause it is our right,firstofall.Noclassofmencan,withoutinsultingtheirownnature,becontent”with-out it. To bedeprived of the vote inAmerica, or inanydemocracy,hecontinued,istosufferadoublein-justice. “Here,whereuniversal suffrage is the rule…

36 “The Present and Future of the Colored Race in America,” May 1863, in Life and Writings, Vol. III, pp. 350–351.

37 Ibid., pp. 348–349 (emphasis in original).

to rule us out is tomake us an exception, to branduswiththestigmaofinferiority,andtoinvitetoourheadsthemissilesofthoseaboutus.”38 Thiswasnomerelyabstractconsideration.Thevot-ingrightwas,forDouglass,the“keystoneofthearchof human liberty,” as itwas the primary, indispens-ablemeansofguardingeveryotherright.Withoutit,blackAmericanswouldremainall toooftenoutsidethe protection of law, dependent for their rights onwhite officeholders who lacked any electoral incen-tivetorepresentthem.Addressingawomen’srightsconventionin1868,Douglassmadethepointsimplyandbluntly:“Iftheelectivefranchiseisnotextendedtothenegro,hedies—heisexterminated.”39 Moreover,asthevotingrightwasanimperativeofjustice,itwasalso,Douglassargued,apowerfulagen-cyforthecauseofintegration.Thismeantfirstthere-integrationofacountrystillbadlydividedbysection-alismintheimmediateaftermathofthewar.Thefed-eralgovernmentwouldfinditself“surroundedbyahostilespirit”inthelatelyrebelliousstates,hewarned,and“thestrengthtocounterbalancethisspirit”wouldbe found “in the negroes of the south.”40 Moreover, a policyofequalsuffragewouldhave,overtime,amoreprofoundintegrativeeffectinthehealingofracialdi-visions.SoonenoughafterAfrican–Americansgainedthevote,Douglassbelieved,theinterestsofwhitepol-iticiansandvoterswouldovercometheirprejudices;

38 “What the Black Man Wants,” in Douglass Papers, Vol. IV, p. 63.39 “Address of the Colored National Convention to the People of

the United States,” October 4–7, 1864, in Life and Writings, Vol. III, p. 420; “Douglass, “Women’s Rights Are Not Inconsistent with Negro Rights,” November 19, 1868, in Douglass Papers, Vol. IV, p. 183.

40 Ibid., p. 64.

The voting right was, for Douglass, the “keystone of the arch of human liberty,” as it was the primary, indispensable means of guarding every other right.

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blackswouldbe“courtedbytheleadersofallparties,”andtheirrightsandinterestswouldberecognizedinlawandpolicy.41

Scarcelylessimportantthansuffrageasaguarantorofpersonalsecuritywerepropertyrights.Douglass’sarguments on this subject extended back to his ear-ly abolitionist years,when he saw very clearly thatslaves’ natural rights to libertywere fundamentallyidenticalwith theirnatural rights toproperty—withtheirnaturalpropertiesintheirownpersons,intheirownlabor,andinthefruitsofthatlabor—andthatthefundamentalevilofslaverywas todeprive them,atonce, of both. Thisdeep,Lockeaninsight,whichheshared,onceagain,withAmerica’sFounders,movedDouglasstodefendthenaturalrightofpropertyagainsterrorsandattacks fromdivergentpositions.Ononeside,here-jectedas“plainlyblasphemous”theradicalpositivismexpressedintheeminentSenatorHenryClay’sasser-tion“thatwhatthelawmakesproperty,isproperty.”42 At theotherextreme,he judged it“arrantnonsense”to conflate the causes of abolitionism and socialism,assomeabolitionistsdidinthebeliefthattheycoulderadicatethedesireforpropertyinanotherhumanbe-ingonlybyeradicatingthedesireforprivatepropertyof any kind.43 True abolition and true liberation, inDouglass’sunderstanding,requiredtherestorationofslaves’propertyrights,nottheeliminationofalloth-ers’property. Douglass’s postwar arguments were consistentwith this position. His fair-play principle required,firstandforemost,thecessationofvariouspracticesinthepost-ReconstructionSouththatweredesignedtofrustrateblacks’effortstoacquirepropertyforthem-selves.Suchpracticesimplicatedsouthernwhiteland-ownersinaconspiracytorefrainfromsellinglandto

41 “Address of the Colored National Convention,” in Life and Writings, Vol. III, p. 420

42 Douglass, “Northern Whigs and Democrats,” July 7, 1848, in Life and Writings, Vol. I, p. 311.

43 Douglass, “Property in Soil and Property in Man,” November 18, 1848, in Life and Writings, Vol. V, p. 105.

black would-be buyers and to compensate black la-borers only bymeans that prevented them from ac-cumulatinganysavings.Inallsuchpolicies,Douglassprotested,“thereisclearlyseenthepurposetocrushourspirits,tocrippleourenterpriseanddoomustoacondition of destitution and degradation.”44

Againincontrasttomoreradicalcriticsinhisdayandourown,Douglassinsistedthatthesepersistingabusesbytheclassofformerslaveholdersconstitutedclear violations, not legitimate applications and notrefutations,ofthenaturalrightofproperty.Theprop-er remedy for theseviolations,asheconceivedof it,was in accord with this conviction.

Inashortmanuscriptwrittensometimeinornear1869,heformulatedin“roughoutline”aland-reformproposal,accordingtowhichthefederalgovernmentwould correct for southern landowners’ collusionby becoming itself a purchaser and seller of lands.Douglassproposedthecharteringofa“nationallandandloancompany”empoweredtopurchaseavailabletractsof landand then to resellor lease those landsto members of the newly emancipated class.45 Two thingsarenoteworthyaboutthisproposal. First, itmakes clear that Douglass’s demand fornothingbutfairplayallowedforvigorousprotectiveandremedialactionbythefederalgovernment. Second, it indicates Douglass’s reluctance to sup-port more radical measures such as the “plan for

44 Douglass, “We Are Not Yet Quite Free,” August 3, 1869, in Douglass Papers, Vol. IV, pp. 235–236.

45 The manuscript is available in the Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress (Speech, Article, and Book File; Miscellany, Folder 7 of 20) and also online at the library’s Douglass Papers Web site, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/doughtml/doughome.html.

True abolition and true liberation, in Douglass’s understanding, required the restoration of slaves’ property rights, not the elimination of all others’ property.

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confiscation” proposed in 1867 by PennsylvaniaCongressmanThaddeusStevens,leaderoftheRadicalRepublicansintheHouseofRepresentatives. In Stevens’s plan, lands belonging to the for-merConfederate states and their soldierswould bedeemedforfeitedandthendistributedinparcelsof40acres as homesteads to the freedpeople. In develop-inghisownproposal,Douglassdidnot identify theprecisegroundsofhisdisagreementwithStevens.buthisrelativemoderationinthisproposaliscertainlyinkeepingwithhisclassical-liberalrespectforpropertyrights,alongwithhislongtimeconcerntosustainandstrengthen a spirit of virtuous self-reliance amongblackAmericans.

seLF-ReLiAnce AnD coRRecTive JusTice In his efforts to cultivate a respect for and prop-er understanding of the natural right of property,Douglasswas laboring for a causehe consideredvi-talbothtoAmerica’smoralandpoliticalcultureandtotheliberationandelevationofblackAmericansinparticular.Here it is essential to note thatDouglass,like JamesMadison, conceived of the right to prop-ertyinitsprimarysenseasarighttoacquire materialgoods,groundedinthefreeuseofone’sfacultiesforproductivelabor.46Oneofthemostcorrupting,debili-tating effects of slavery, inDouglass’s analysis,wasits fostering of a cultural disdain for laboring as anactivitybeneaththedignityoftrulyfree,trulyhumanbeings. To remedy the degradation and impoverish-ment that proceeded from this culture of indolence,Douglassthroughoutthepostwaryearsinsistentlyex-tolledthepropertyrightandthevirtuesoffreelaborthatsupportedit,andhecalleduponhisfellowblackAmericansinparticulartocultivatetheself-reliantvir-tuesofindustry,productivity,andthrift. Douglassmadetheseappealstogreatesteffectinthemostpopularandfrequentlypresentedofhispost-warspeeches,hislectureon“Self-MadeMen.”After

46 See Madison, “Property,” in Madison: Writings (New York: Library of America, 1999), pp. 516–517.

brieflyconsideringa fewalternativeexplanationsofworldly success, Douglass declares it evident that“wemayexplainsuccessmainlybyonewordandthatword is work! work!! work!!! work!!! Not transient andfitful effort, butpatient, enduring,honest, unre-

mitting,andindefatigablework,intowhichthewholeheart isput.…”Muchof thedistinctivegreatnessofthisnation,he continues, isdue to itshospitality tojustthissortofvirtue.“Americaissaid,andnotwith-outreason,tobepreeminentlythehomeandpatronofself-mademen….Searchwhereyouwill,thereisnocountryontheglobewherelaborissorespectedandthelaborersohonored,asinthiscountry.”47

This,too,wasacorollaryofDouglass’snon-excep-tionalismprinciple.Hisemphasisonpropertyrightsgroundedinproductive,opportunisticlaboringwenthand-in-handwitha respect forblacks’ equal capac-ity for cultivating and perfecting the self-elevatingvirtues.Likewise,itwenthand-in-handwithhiswari-ness of the moral hazards attendant on whites’ be-nevolence.“WhatIaskforthenegro,”heexplainedin1865,“isnotbenevolence,notpity,notsympathy,butsimplyjustice.”48

Ten years later, in an Independence Day ad-dress,heissuedasimilar,muchmorepointedappeal.Objectingtotheeffortsofsomewhitebenevolentso-cieties,heurgedhisblackcompatriotsindignantlytorejectanyconditionofdependence:

47 Douglass, “Self-Made Men,” in Douglass Papers, Vol. V, pp. 556, 569.

48 “What the Black Man Wants,” in Douglass Papers, Vol. IV, p. 68 (emphasis in original).

In his efforts to cultivate a respect for and proper understanding of the natural right of property, Douglass was laboring for a cause he considered vital both to America’s moral and political culture and to the liberation and elevation of black Americans in particular.

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Anewconditionhasbroughtnewduties.Achar-acterwhichmightpasswithoutcensureasaslavecannotsopassasafreeman.Wemustnotbegmento do for uswhatwe ought to do for ourselves.Theprostrateform,theuncoveredhead,thecring-ingattitude, thebatedbreath, thesuppliant,out-stretched hand of beggary does not become anAmerican freeman,anddoesnotbecomeusasaclass, andwewill not consent to be any longerrepresentedinthatposition.Nopeoplecanmakedesirable progress or have permanent welfareoutsideof theirownindependentandearnestef-forts….Weutterlyrepudiateallinvidiousdistinc-tions,whetherinourfavororagainstus,andaskonlyforafairfieldandnofavor.49

Humannaturecannothonoronewhoishelpless,Douglass hadobserved longbefore, but it is boundtorespectthosewhodisplayaforceful,virtuousself-reliance.“Themosttelling,themostkilling,refutationofslavery,”hewrotetoHarrietBeecherStowein1853,“is the presentation of an industrious, enterprising,thrifty, and intelligent free black population.” Everconfident in thepower of virtue todispel prejudice,Douglassaffirmedin1883that“themoralgovernmentoftheuniverseisonourside….Everyyearaddstotheblackman’snumbers.Everyyearaddstohiswealthandtohisintelligence.Thesewillspeakforhim.Thereisapowerinnumbers,wealthandintelligence,whichcanneverbedespisednordefied.” 50Self-reliantvirtuewasindispensabletothecauseofnationalintegration,just as itwas an essential condition of the securing of rights. Douglass’s sometimes stern emphasis on the vir-tuesofself-relianceandself-elevationdoesnotmean

49 Douglass, “The Color Question,” July 5, 1875, in Douglass Papers, Vol. IV, p. 420.

50 My Bondage and My Freedom, in Autobiographies, p. 286; Douglass to Stowe, March 8, 1853, in Life and Writings, Vol. II, p. 235; “Address on the Twentieth Anniversary of Emancipation,” April 16, 1883, in Douglass Papers, Vol. V, pp. 61, 64–65.

that he had grown insensitive to the magnitude of the difficultiesyettobeovercome;nordoesitmeanthathehadresortedto“blamingthevictim”orplacingex-clusiveresponsibilityonthefreedpeoplefortheircon-dition. Throughout his postwar career, he remainedacutelyawareofthedepthoftheinjuriesinflictedbyslavery and of the persisting power of racial preju-dice, andhewas carefullyattentive to the claimsofcorrectivejustice.“UnderthewholeHeavens,”here-

markedin1894,“thereneverwasapeopleliberatedfrombondageunderconditionslessfavorabletothesuccessfulbeginningofanewand freemodeof life,thanweretheFreedmenoftheSouth.” 51Withrespecttocorrectivejustice,hefirmlyendorsedtheprinciplebuttookasubtle,carefullymeasuredpositionwithre-specttoitspresentapplication. “To find an adequate measure of compensationforanywrong,”Douglassexplained,“wemustfirstascertain the nature and extent of thewrong itself.”The extentofthewrongsofslaveryoverhundredsofyearssimplybeggaredanypossibleresponse.To“theenslavedandbatteredmillions[who]havecome,suf-fered,died,andgone,”heobserved,“norecompensecanbemade.”Thesamewastrueforthosemillions’livingdescendents:

IftheAmericanpeoplecouldputaschoolhouseineveryvalley;achurchoneveryhilltopintheSouthand supply themwith a teacher and a preacherrespectivelyandwelcomethedescendentsoftheformerslavestoallthemoralandintellectualben-efitsoftheoneandtheother,withoutmoneyandwithoutprice,suchasacrificewouldnotcompen-

51 Douglass, “The Blessings of Liberty and Education,” September 3, 1894, in Douglass Papers, Vol. V, p. 624.

Self-reliant virtue was indispensable to the cause of national integration, just as it was an essential condition of the securing of rights.

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satetheirchildrenfortheterriblewrongdonetotheir fathers andmothers, by their enslavementand enforced degradation.52

Thespecificnatureofslavery’sworstwrongs,how-ever,suggestedamoredefiniteapproach.The“laborandstripes”thataccompaniedslavery—evenitslast-ingmaterialdeprivations—didnotreachthedepthofits harmful effects in Douglass’s estimation. “Thesewere indeed terrible enough;butdeeperdown, andmoreterriblestill,werethementalandmoralwrongs”that slavery inflicted. Slavery not only expropriatedthe fruitsof itsvictims’ labor,butalsoassaulted themoralandmentalfacultiesbywhich,oncefreed,theymightotherwisehaveputtheirlabortoprofitableandelevatinguses.

In particular, slaveholders perpetrated “no great-erwrong”thantheirwithholdingofeducationfromthoseenslaved.Reiteratingattheendofhislifeapow-erfulthemeofhisearliestwritings,Douglassinsistedthat“education…meansemancipation.Itmeanslightand liberty. Itmeans uplifting the soul ofman intothegloriouslightoftruth,thelightbywhichmencanonlybemadefree.”53 When Douglass remarked on America’s inexpi-abledebttothosewhohadbeenenslaved,hewasnotdemandinganeffort torestore,however imperfectly,theactualandpotentialmaterialwealththatslaveryhadstolenfromitsvictims.Hewasappealingtothepublictohonorthosevictims’“claimforaslightmea-

52 Ibid., pp. 623–624.53 Ibid., p. 623.

sureofcompensation”inafashioncarefullytailoredtotheirneedsandtothedeepestof thewrongsthattheyhadsuffered. Douglass made these particular remarks in aspeech at the dedication of an industrial educationinstitutioninthestateofVirginia,buttheyrepresentanextensionofhisbroaderadvocacy, in thisperiod,ofafederallyestablishedsystemofpublicschools.Itwasspecificallyongroundsofreparativejusticethatheurgedsupportofoneparticularfederalpublic-ed-ucationproposal,abillputforwardbySenatorHenryBlair ofNewHampshire. Passage of the billwouldsignify,hecontended,“atleastarecognitionofagreatnationalduty towardsapeople towhoman immea-surabledebtisdue.Itwilltellthatpeopleandalloth-ersthatthenationhasthedispositionifnotentireabil-itytodotheNegrorightandjustice.”54

Douglass’s suggestions in these remarks abouttheproperwaytoconceiveofreparationforslaverynicelyencapsulatehispoliticalthoughtinthepostwarperiodandindeedthroughouthisentirecareer.Hereagain,twopointsareespeciallysalient. First, Douglass’s focus on education indicatesthat inhisview, thepublic (federalorstate)role inrepairingthewrongsinquestionmustbeinstrumen-tal rather than providential. In otherwords, ratherthan attempting to restorewhat slavery took fromits victims in actual or potential acquirements ofwealth and status, governments should secure op-portunities and lend support for the freedpeople’sown efforts in self-improvement and self-elevation.Douglass never tired of quoting the lines of Byrontothiseffect:“Whowouldbefree,themselvesmuststriketheblow.”Totheend,heheldstronglytotheprinciplethathestressedinan1855editorial:“our elevation as a race, is almost wholly dependent upon our own exertions.”55

54 Douglass, “To the Editor of the National Republican,” in Life and Writings, Vol. IV, p. 459.

55 My Bondage and My Freedom, in Autobiographies, p. 287; Douglass, “Self-Elevation,” in Life and Writings, Vol. II, p. 360.

Rather than attempting to restore what slavery took from its victims in actual or potential acquirements of wealth and status, governments should secure opportunities and lend support for the freedpeople’s own efforts in self-improvement and self-elevation.

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Second, any truly salutarypublic assistancemustalsobe integrative,notdivisive, in itsdesignandef-fects. In this respect, what is notable in Douglass’sadvocacy of education reforms is that whereas hejustifiedthemprimarilyasthepaymentofadebtduespecificallytothoseformerlyenslavedandtheirrela-tions—specificallytoblackAmericans—heproposedthepaymentofthatdebtbyapolicyframedinnonra-cialterms,designedtobenefitAmericansirrespectiveofrace.Of theBlairbill,he insistedthat“theNegroneeds it, the illiteratewhite needs it and the nationneeds it.”56Arguingin1872againstracialsegregationinpublicschools,Douglassdescribedhispurposeas“patriotic”aswellas“beneficent,”onthepremisethatthepublicschoolsshouldfunctionas“acommonplat-formofnationality.”57Anymeasurethatauthorizesordeepensone’sself-identificationinpredominantlyra-cial terms is tobeopposed,hemaintained, insistingthatraceisamorallyarbitraryquality. In his 1894 “Blessings of Liberty and Education”speech, presented a few months before his death,Douglassventuredonthesubjectalastwordthathefearedwouldbe“moreusefulthanpalatable”:

Sinceemancipationwehearmuchsaidofourmod-erncoloredleadersincommendationofracepride,race love, race effort, race superiority, racemenandthelike….Inallthistalkofrace,themotivemaybegood,butthemethodisbad.ItisanefforttocastoutSatanbyBeelzebub.Theevilswhicharenow crushing the Negro to earth have their root and sap, their force andmainspring, in this nar-rowspiritofraceandcolorandtheNegrohasnomorerighttoexcuseortofosteritthanmenofanyotherrace….NotasEthiopians,notasCaucasians,not as Mongolians, not as Afro–Americans, orAnglo–American are we addressed but as men.

56 “To the Editor of the National Republican,” in Life and Writings, Vol. IV, p. 459.

57 Douglass, “Schools Are a Common Platform of Nationality,” May 9, 1872, in Douglass Papers, Vol. IV, p. 302.

Godandnaturespeaktoourmanhoodandman-hoodalone.58

FinDing A home in AmeRicA FrederickDouglass devoted his singular 54-yearcareerofpublic advocacy to thegrand,mutually in-separablecausesoftheliberationandelevationofhisfellowblackAmericans and the racial andmoral in-tegrationofAmerica. In the longhistoryofAfrican–Americanpoliticalthought,thereisnomoreforcefulproponentof thecauseof integrationthanDouglass,andthereisnomoreinsightfulanalystofthevarietiesanddangersofnationalandracialdisintegration. In Douglass’s day, the forces of disintegrationwere represented by slaveholders, white suprema-cists, segregationists, colonizationists, and themoreextremepartisansofstateorregionalsovereignty,andalso by black emigrationists and other proponentsofblacknationalismin itsownmoreextremeforms.Douglassrejectedthevariouswhitedisintegrationistsforobviousreasons,andherejectedtheblackvariantstoo.Thepropensityof the latter, hewarned,was tofosteranenervatingspiritofalienation—aperpetual“longing forsomemightyrevolution,”divertinganddissipatingtheenergiesofthosewhoharboredit.59 Takingalongview,DouglassjudgedthattherewasnogreaterdangertotheelevationofblackpeopleandtheintegrationofAmericathanthisspiritofalienation.“WewantnoblackIrelandinAmerica,”hewarnedinresponsetotheSupremeCourt’sdisappointingrulingin the Civil Rights Cases in1883—noAmericancoun-terparttotheaggrieved,unproductive,disproportion-ately criminal (under)class thatDouglass viewed asthe natural issue of England’s injustice.60 He fearedthatsuchadevelopmentamongblackAmericanslike-

58 “The Blessings of Liberty and Education,” in Douglass Papers, Vol. V, p. 625.

59 Douglass, “African Civilization Society,” February, 1859, in Life and Writings, Vol. II, p. 446.

60 Douglass, “This Decision Has Humbled the Nation,” in Douglass Papers, Vol. V, pp. 117–118.

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wisewouldbetheeffectofcontinuingfailurestodojusticebyAmericaninstitutions,asitcouldresultalsofromthedisaffectionpropagatedbyblackadvocatesofemigration,despairingofAmerica’sprospects forreform. Thesefearsclearlyretaintheircurrencyinourownday,asdoDouglass’seffortstodispeltheircauses.Hisspeechesandwritingssupplyatreasureofargumentsagainsttheperpetuationofracialinjusticeand,noless,against thedemoralizing critiquesof it according towhich,absentautopiantransformationofAmerica’sprinciples,institutions,andculture,whiteracismandanoppositional identity forblacksmustbe takenaspermanentfeaturesofAmericansociety. “No people can prosper,” Douglass reiteratedlateinlife,“unlesstheyhaveahome,orthehopeofa home”; and “to have a home,” one “must have acountry.”61AmericawasAfrican–Americans’ properhome, hemaintained, their only realistic alternativeand also the locus of their highest ideals. Americamustbeenvisionedandremadebyitswhiteandblackcitizens alike as African–Americans’ genuine home,notmerelybytheaccidentandforceofnecessitybutasanobjectoftheirrationalandsentimentalidentifi-cation.ForDouglassasforAbrahamLincoln,Americawas,afterall,thelast,besthopeofEarth.62

TheprinciplesofnaturalhumanrightssetforthintheDeclarationof Independence,Douglasswas con-vinced,representapermanent,universaltruthaswell

61 Douglass, “Why Is the Negro Lynched?” in Life and Writings, Vol. IV, p. 514.

62 Abraham Lincoln, “Annual Message to Congress,” December 1, 1862, in Abraham Lincoln: His Speeches and Writings, ed. Roy P. Basler (Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2001), p. 688.

as themostpracticallypowerfulmoralandpoliticaltheoryeverconceived.Itwasaboveall inAmerica’soriginal and unforgettable dedication to those prin-ciplesthatDouglassfoundreasontoloveandidentifywithhiscountry,despitetheinjusticesthatheandhispeoplehadsuffered. In his reasonable faith in their ultimate triumphin America, Douglass found an enormous reser-voirofstrengththathe laboredtosharewithothers.Drawinguponthatfaith,hetaughtblackAmericansandallotherAmericanstostandupforjusticeandtostriveforexcellence.Hetaughtthemthroughalltheirhardshipstolovetheircountryandtheirfutureinit.Most urgently, he taught them to reject the spirit ofalienation,whichhesawasthegreatestdangertoanypeople’sliberationandelevation. Over one hundred years after FrederickDouglass’s death, this teaching has lost none of itsessentialvitality.

—Peter C. Myers is Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire and the author of FrederickDouglass:RaceandtheRebirthofAmericanLiberalism.

This essay was published January 11, 2011.

The principles of natural human rights set forth in the Declaration of Independence, Douglass was convinced, represent a permanent, universal truth as well as the most practically powerful moral and political theory ever conceived.