WHAT THE BLACK MAN WANTS
I came here, as I come always to the meetings in New England, as a listener,
and not as a speaker; and one of the reasons why I have not been more
frequently to the meetings of this society, has been because of the disposition
on the part of some of my friends to call me out upon the platform, even when
they knew that there was some difference of opinion and of feeling between
those who rightfully belong to this platform and myself; and for fear of being
misconstrued, as desiring to interrupt or disturb the proceedings of these
meetings, I have usually kept away, and have thus been deprived of that
educating influence, which I am always free to confess is of the highest order,
descending from this platform. I have felt, since I have lived out West
[Douglass means west of Boston, in Rochester, NY], that in going there I parted
from a great deal that was valuable; and I feel, every time I come to these
meetings, that I have lost a great deal by making my home west of Boston, west
of Massachusetts; for, if anywhere in the country there is to be found the
highest sense of justice, or the truest demands for my race, I look for it in
the East, I look for it here. The ablest discussions of the whole question of
our rights occur here, and to be deprived of the privilege of listening to
those discussions is a great deprivation.
I do not know, from what has been said, that there is any difference of opinion
as to the duty of abolitionists, at the present moment. How can we get up any
difference at this point, or any point, where we are so united, so agreed? I
went especially, however, with that word of Mr. Phillips, which is the
criticism of Gen. Banks and Gen. Banks' policy. [Gen. Banks instituted a labor
policy in Louisiana that was discriminatory of blacks, claiming that it was to
help prepare them to better handle freedom. Wendell Phillips countered by
saying, "If there is anything patent in the whole history of our thirty
years' struggle, it is that the Negro no more needs to be prepared for liberty
than the white man."] I hold that that policy is our chief danger at the
present moment; that it practically enslaves the Negro, and makes the
Proclamation [the Emancipation Proclamation] of 1863 a mockery and delusion.
What is freedom? It is the right to choose one's own employment. Certainly it
means that, if it means anything; and when any individual or combination of
individuals undertakes to decide for any man when he shall work, where he shall
work, at what he shall work, and for what he shall work, he or they practically
reduce him to slavery. [Applause.] He is a slave. That I understand Gen. Banks
to do--to determine for the so-called freedman, when, and where, and at what,
and for how much he shall work, when he shall be punished, and by whom
punished. It is absolute slavery. It defeats the beneficent intention of the
Government, if it has beneficent intentions, in regards to the freedom of our
people.
I have had but one idea for the last three years to present to the American
people, and the phraseology in which I clothe it is the old abolition
phraseology. I am for the "immediate, unconditional, and universal"
enfranchisement of the black man, in every State in the Union. [Loud applause.]
Without this, his liberty is a mockery; without this, you might as well almost
retain the old name of slavery for his condition; for in fact, if he is not the
slave of the individual master, he is the slave of society, and holds his
liberty as a privilege, not as a right. He is at the mercy of the mob, and has
no means of protecting himself.
It may be objected, however, that this pressing of the Negro's right to
suffrage is premature. Let us have slavery abolished, it may be said, let us
have labor organized, and then, in the natural course of events, the right of
suffrage will be extended to the Negro. I do not agree with this. The
constitution of the human mind is such, that if it once disregards the
conviction forced upon it by a revelation of truth, it requires the exercise of
a higher power to produce the same conviction afterwards. The American people
are now in tears. The Shenandoah has run blood--the best blood of the North.
All around Richmond, the blood of New England and of the North has been shed--of
your sons, your brothers and your fathers. We all feel, in the existence of
this Rebellion, that judgments terrible, wide-spread, far-reaching,
overwhelming, are abroad in the land; and we feel, in view of these judgments,
just now, a disposition to learn righteousness. This is the hour. Our streets
are in mourning, tears are falling at every fireside, and under the
chastisement of this Rebellion we have almost come up to the point of conceding
this great, this all-important right of suffrage. I fear that if we fail to do
it now, if abolitionists fail to press it now, we may not see, for centuries to
come, the same disposition that exists at this moment. [Applause.] Hence, I
say, now is the time to press this right.
It may be asked, "Why do you want it? Some men have got along very well
without it. Women have not this right." Shall we justify one wrong by
another? This is the sufficient answer. Shall we at this moment justify the
deprivation of the Negro of the right to vote, because some one else is deprived
of that privilege? I hold that women, as well as men, have the right to vote
[applause], and my heart and voice go with the movement to extend suffrage to
woman; but that question rests upon another basis than which our right rests.
We may be asked, I say, why we want it. I will tell you why we want it. We want
it because it is our right, first of all. No class of men can, without
insulting their own nature, be content with any deprivation of their rights. We
want it again, as a means for educating our race. Men are so constituted that
they derive their conviction of their own possibilities largely by the estimate
formed of them by others. If nothing is expected of a people, that people will
find it difficult to contradict that expectation. By depriving us of suffrage,
you affirm our incapacity to form an intelligent judgment respecting public men
and public measures; you declare before the world that we are unfit to exercise
the elective franchise, and by this means lead us to undervalue ourselves, to put
a low estimate upon ourselves, and to feel that we have no possibilities like
other men. Again, I want the elective franchise, for one, as a colored man,
because ours is a peculiar government, based upon a peculiar idea, and that
idea is universal suffrage. If I were in a monarchial government, or an
autocratic or aristocratic government, where the few bore rule and the many
were subject, there would be no special stigma resting upon me, because I did
not exercise the elective franchise. It would do me no great violence. Mingling
with the mass I should partake of the strength of the mass; I should be
supported by the mass, and I should have the same incentives to endeavor with
the mass of my fellow-men; it would be no particular burden, no particular deprivation;
but here where universal suffrage is the rule, where that is the fundamental
idea of the Government, to rule us out is to make us an exception, to brand us
with the stigma of inferiority, and to invite to our heads the missiles of
those about us; therefore, I want the franchise for the black man.
There are, however,
other reasons, not derived from any consideration merely of our rights, but
arising out of the conditions of the South, and of the country--considerations
which have already been referred to by Mr. Phillips--considerations which must
arrest the attention of statesmen. I believe that when the tall heads of this
Rebellion shall have been swept down, as they will be swept down, when the
Davises and Toombses and Stephenses, and others who are leading this Rebellion
shall have been blotted out, there will be this rank undergrowth of treason, to
which reference has been made, growing up there, and interfering with, and
thwarting the quiet operation of the Federal Government in those states. You
will se those traitors, handing down, from sire to son, the same malignant
spirit which they have manifested and which they are now exhibiting, with
malicious hearts, broad blades, and bloody hands in the field, against our sons
and brothers. That spirit will still remain; and whoever sees the Federal
Government extended over those Southern States will see that Government in a
strange land, and not only in a strange land, but in an enemy's land. A
post-master of the United States in the South will find himself surrounded by a
hostile spirit; a collector in a Southern port will find himself surrounded by
a hostile spirit; a United States marshal or United States judge will be
surrounded there by a hostile element. That enmity will not die out in a year,
will not die out in an age. The Federal Government will be looked upon in those
States precisely as the Governments of Austria and France are looked upon in
Italy at the present moment. They will endeavor to circumvent, they will
endeavor to destroy, the peaceful operation of this Government. Now, where will
you find the strength to counterbalance this spirit, if you do not find it in
the Negroes of the South? They are your friends, and have always been your
friends. They were your friends even when the Government did not regard them as
such. They comprehended the genius of this war before you did. It is a
significant fact, it is a marvellous fact, it seems almost to imply a direct
interposition of Providence, that this war, which began in the interest of slavery
on both sides, bids fair to end in the interest of liberty on both sides.
[Applause.] It was begun, I say, in the interest of slavery on both sides. The
South was fighting to take slavery out of the Union, and the North was fighting
to keep it in the Union; the South fighting to get it beyond the limits of the
United States Constitution, and the North fighting to retain it within those
limits; the South fighting for new guarantees, and the North fighting for the
old guarantees;--both despising the Negro, both insulting the Negro. Yet, the
Negro, apparently endowed with wisdom from on high, saw more clearly the end
from the beginning than we did. When Seward said the status of no man in the
country would be changed by the war, the Negro did not believe him. [Applause.]
When our generals sent their underlings in shoulder-straps to hunt the flying
Negro back from our lines into the jaws of slavery, from which he had escaped,
the Negroes thought that a mistake had been made, and that the intentions of
the Government had not been rightly understood by our officers in
shoulder-straps, and they continued to come into our lines, threading their way
through bogs and fens, over briers and thorns, fording streams, swimming
rivers, bringing us tidings as to the safe path to march, and pointing out the
dangers that threatened us. They are our only friends in the South, and we
should be true to them in this their trial hour, and see to it that they have
the elective franchise.
I know that we are inferior to you in some things--virtually inferior. We walk
about you like dwarfs among giants. Our heads are scarcely seen above the great
sea of humanity. The Germans are superior to us; the Irish are superior to us;
the Yankees are superior to us [Laughter]; they can do what we cannot, that is,
what we have not hitherto been allowed to do. But while I make this admission,
I utterly deny, that we are originally, or naturally, or practically, or in any
way, or in any important sense, inferior to anybody on this globe. [Loud applause.]
This charge of inferiority is an old dodge. It has been made available for
oppression on many occasions. It is only about six centuries since the
blue-eyed and fair-haired Anglo-Saxons were considered inferior by the haughty
Normans, who once trampled upon them. If you read the history of the Norman
Conquest, you will find that this proud Anglo-Saxon was once looked upon as of
coarser clay than his Norman master, and might be found in the highways and
byways of Old England laboring with a brass collar on his neck, and the name of
his master marked upon it. You were down then! [Laughter and applause.] You are
up now. I am glad you are up, and I want you to be glad to help us up also.
[Applause.]
The story of our inferiority is an old dodge, as I have said; for wherever men
oppress their fellows, wherever they enslave them, they will endeavor to find
the needed apology for such enslavement and oppression in the character of the
people oppressed and enslaved. When we wanted, a few years ago, a slice of Mexico,
it was hinted that the Mexicans were an inferior race, that the old Castilian
blood had become so weak that it would scarcely run down hill, and that Mexico
needed the long, strong and beneficent arm of the Anglo-Saxon care extended
over it. We said that it was necessary to its salvation, and a part of the
"manifest destiny" of this Republic, to extend our arm over that
dilapidated government. So, too, when Russia wanted to take possession of a
part of the Ottoman Empire, the Turks were an "inferior race." So,
too, when England wants to set the heel of her power more firmly in the
quivering heart of old Ireland, the Celts are an "inferior race." So,
too, the Negro, when he is to be robbed of any right which is justly his, is an
"inferior man." It is said that we are ignorant; I admit it. But if
we know enough to be hung, we know enough to vote. If the Negro knows enough to
pay taxes to support the government, he knows enough to vote; taxation and
representation should go together. If he knows enough to shoulder a musket and
fight for the flag, fight for the government, he knows enough to vote. If he
knows as much when he is sober as an Irishman knows when drunk, he knows enough
to vote, on good American principles. [Laughter and applause.]
But I was saying that
you needed a counterpoise in the persons of the slaves to the enmity that would
exist at the South after the Rebellion is put down. I hold that the American
people are bound, not only in self-defence, to extend this right to the
freedmen of the South, but they are bound by their love of country, and by all
their regard for the future safety of those Southern States, to do this--to do
it as a measure essential to the preservation of peace there. But I will not
dwell upon this. I put it to the American sense of honor. The honor of a nation
is an important thing. It is said in the Scriptures, "What doth it profit
a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" It may be said,
also, What doth it profit a nation if it gain the whole world, but lose its
honor? I hold that the American government has taken upon itself a solemn
obligation of honor, to see that this war--let it be long or short, let it cost
much or let it cost little--that this war shall not cease until every freedman
at the South has the right to vote. [Applause.] It has bound itself to it. What
have you asked the black men of the South, the black men of the whole country
to do? Why, you have asked them to incure the enmity of their masters, in order
to befriend you and to befriend this Government. You have asked us to call
down, not only upon ourselves, but upon our children's children, the deadly
hate of the entire Southern people. You have called upon us to turn our backs
upon our masters, to abandon their cause and espouse yours; to turn against the
South and in favor of the North; to shoot down the Confederacy and uphold the
flag-- the American flag. You have called upon us to expose ourselves to all
the subtle machinations of their malignity for all time. And now, what do you
propose to do when you come to make peace? To reward your enemies, and trample
in the dust your friends? Do you intend to sacrifice the very men who have come
to the rescue of your banner in the South, and incurred the lasting displeasure
of their masters thereby? Do you intend to sacrifice them and reward your
enemies? Do you mean to give your enemies the right to vote, and take it away
from your friends? Is that wise policy? Is that honorable? Could American honor
withstand such a blow? I do not believe you will do it. I think you will see to
it that we have the right to vote. There is something too mean in looking upon
the Negro, when you are in trouble, as a citizen, and when you are free from
trouble, as an alien. When this nation was in trouble, in its early struggles,
it looked upon the Negro as a citizen. In 1776 he was a citizen. At the time of
the formation of the Consitution the Negro had the right to vote in eleven
States out of the old thirteen. In your trouble you have made us citizens. In
1812 Gen. Jackson addressed us as citizens--"fellow-citizens." He
wanted us to fight. We were citizens then! And now, when you come to frame a
conscription bill, the Negro is a citizen again. He has been a citizen just
three times in the history of this government, and it has always been in time
of trouble. In time of trouble we are citizens. Shall we be citizens in war,
and aliens in peace? Would that be just?
I ask my friends who are apologizing for not insisting upon this right, where
can the black man look, in this country, for the assertion of his right, if he
may not look to the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society? Where under the whole
heavens can he look for sympathy, in asserting this right, if he may not look
to this platform? Have you lifted us up to a certain height to see that we are
men, and then are any disposed to leave us there, without seeing that we are
put in possession of all our rights? We look naturally to this platform for the
assertion of all our rights, and for this one especially. I understand the
anti-slavery societies of this country to be based on two principles,--first,
the freedom of the blacks of this country; and, second, the elevation of them.
Let me not be misunderstood here. I am not asking for sympathy at the hands of
abolitionists, sympathy at the hands of any. I think the American people are
disposed often to be generous rather than just. I look over this country at the
present time, and I see Educational Societies, Sanitary Commissions, Freedmen's
Associations, and the like,--all very good: but in regard to the colored people
there is always more that is benevolent, I perceive, than just, manifested
towards us. What I ask for the Negro is not benevolence, not pity, not
sympathy, but simply justice. [Applause.] The American people have always been
anxious to know what they shall do with us. Gen. Banks was distressed with
solicitude as to what he should do with the Negro. Everybody has asked the
question, and they learned to ask it early of the abolitionists, "What
shall we do with the Negro?" I have had but one answer from the beginning.
Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us.
Do nothing with us! If the apples will not remain on the tree of their own
strength, if they are wormeaten at the core, if they are early ripe and
disposed to fall, let them fall! I am not for tying or fastening them on the
tree in any way, except by nature's plan, and if they will not stay there, let
them fall. And if the Negro cannot stand on his own legs, let him fall also.
All I ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs! Let him alone! If you
see him on his way to school, let him alone, don't disturb him! If you see him
going to the dinner table at a hotel, let him go! If you see him going to the
ballot- box, let him alone, don't disturb him! [Applause.] If you see him going
into a work-shop, just let him alone,--your interference is doing him a
positive injury. Gen. Banks' "preparation" is of a piece with this
attempt to prop up the Negro. Let him fall if he cannot stand alone! If the
Negro cannot live by the line of eternal justice, so beautifully pictured to
you in the illustration used by Mr. Phillips, the fault will not be yours, it
will be his who made the Negro, and established that line for his government. [Applause.]
Let him live or die by that. If you will only untie his hands, and give him a
chance, I think he will live. He will work as readily for himself as the white
man. A great many delusions have been swept away by this war. One was, that the
Negro would not work; he has proved his ability to work. Another was, that the
Negro would not fight; that he possessed only the most sheepish attributes of
humanity; was a perfect lamb, or an "Uncle Tom;" disposed to take off
his coat whenever required, fold his hands, and be whipped by anybody who
wanted to whip him. But the war has proved that there is a great deal of human
nature in the Negro, and that "he will fight," as Mr. Quincy, our
President, said, in earlier days than these, "when there is reasonable
probability of his whipping anybody." [Laughter and applause.]
(Foner, Volume Four, pages 157- 165)
