Text of Douglass's Essay

Featured in The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 18, Number 110, pages 761–765. (December 1866).

THE assembling of the Second Session of the Thirty-ninth Congress may very properly be made the occasion of a few earnest words on the already much-worn topic of reconstruction.

Seldom has any legislative body been the subject of a solicitude more intense, or of aspirations more sincere and ardent. There are the best of reasons for this profound interest. Questions of vast moment, left undecided by the last session of Congress, must be manfully grappled with by this. No political skirmishing will avail. The occasion demands statesmanship.

Whether the tremendous war so heroically fought and so victoriously ended shall pass into history a miserable failure, barren of permanent results,—a scandalous and shocking waste of blood and treasure,—a strife for empire, as Earl Russell characterized it, of no value to liberty or civilization,—an attempt to re-establish a Union by force, which must be the merest mockery of a Union,—an effort to bring under Federal authority States into which no loyal man from the North may safely enter, and to bring men into the national councils who deliberate with daggers and vote with revolvers, and who do not even conceal their deadly hate of the country that conquered them; or whether, on the other hand, we shall, as the rightful reward of victory over treason, have a solid nation, entirely delivered from all contradictions and social antagonisms, based upon loyalty, liberty, and equality, must be determined one way or the other by the present session of Congress. The last session really did nothing which can be considered final as to these questions. The Civil Rights Bill and the Freedmen's Bureau Bill and the proposed constitutional amendments, with the amendment already adopted and recognized as the law of the land, do not reach the difficulty, and cannot, unless the whole structure of the government is changed from a government by States to something like a despotic central government, with power to control even the municipal regulations of States, and to make them conform to its own despotic will. While there remains such an idea as the right of each State to control its own local affairs,—an idea, by the way, more deeply rooted in the minds of men of all sections of the country than perhaps any one other political idea,—no general assertion of human rights can be of any practical value. To change the character of the government at this point is neither possible nor desirable. All that is necessary to be done is to make the government consistent with itself, and render the rights of the States compatible with the sacred rights of human nature.

The arm of the Federal government is long, but it is far too short to protect the rights of individuals in the interior of distant States. They must have the power to protect themselves, or they will go unprotected, spite of all the laws the Federal government can put upon the national statute-book.

Slavery, like all other great systems of wrong, founded in the depths of human selfishness, and existing for ages, has not neglected its own conservation. It has steadily exerted an influence upon all around it favorable to its own continuance. And to-day it is so strong that it could exist, not only without law, but even against law. Custom, manners, morals, religion, are all on its side everywhere in the South; and when you add the ignorance and servility of the ex-slave to the intelligence and accustomed authority of the master, you have the conditions, not out of which slavery will again grow, but under which it is impossible for the Federal government to wholly destroy it, unless the Federal government be armed with despotic power, to blot out State authority, and to station a Federal officer at every cross-road. This, of course, cannot be done, and ought not even if it could. The true way and the easiest way is to make our government entirely consistent with itself, and give to every loyal citizen the elective franchise,—a right and power which will be ever present, and will form a wall of fire for his protection.

One of the invaluable compensations of the late Rebellion is the highly instructive disclosure it made of the true source of danger to republican government. Whatever may be tolerated in monarchical and despotic governments, no republic is safe that tolerates a privileged class, or denies to any of its citizens equal rights and equal means to maintain them. What was theory before the war has been made fact by the war.

There is cause to be thankful even for rebellion. It is an impressive teacher, though a stern and terrible one. In both characters it has come to us, and it was perhaps needed in both. It is an instructor never a day before its time, for it comes only when all other means of progress and enlightenment have failed. Whether the oppressed and despairing bondman, no longer able to repress his deep yearnings for manhood, or the tyrant, in his pride and impatience, takes the initiative, and strikes the blow for a firmer hold and a longer lease of oppression, the result is the same,—society is instructed, or may be.

Such are the limitations of the common mind, and so thoroughly engrossing are the cares of common life, that only the few among men can discern through the glitter and dazzle of present prosperity the dark outlines of approaching disasters, even though they may have come up to our very gates, and are already within striking distance. The yawning seam and corroded bolt conceal their defects from the mariner until the storm calls all hands to the pumps. Prophets, indeed, were abundant before the war; but who cares for prophets while their predictions remain unfulfilled, and the calamities of which they tell are masked behind a blinding blaze of national prosperity?

It is asked, said Henry Clay, on a memorable occasion, Will slavery never come to an end? That question, said he, was asked fifty years ago, and it has been answered by fifty years of unprecedented prosperity. Spite of the eloquence of the earnest Abolitionists,—poured out against slavery during thirty years,—even they must confess, that, in all the probabilities of the case, that system of barbarism would have continued its horrors far beyond the limits of the nineteenth century but for the Rebellion, and perhaps only have disappeared at last in a fiery conflict, even more fierce and bloody than that which has now been suppressed.

It is no disparagement to truth, that it can only prevail where reason prevails. War begins where reason ends. The thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion. What that thing is, we have been taught to our cost. It remains now to be seen whether we have the needed courage to have that cause entirely removed from the Republic. At any rate, to this grand work of national regeneration and entire purification Congress must now address itself, with full purpose that the work shall this time be thoroughly done. The deadly upas, root and branch, leaf and fibre, body and sap, must be utterly destroyed. The country is evidently not in a condition to listen patiently to pleas for postponement, however plausible, nor will it permit the responsibility to be shifted to other shoulders. Authority and power are here commensurate with the duty imposed. There are no cloud-flung shadows to obscure the way. Truth shines with brighter light and intenser heat at every moment, and a country torn and rent and bleeding implores relief from its distress and agony.

If time was at first needed, Congress has now had time. All the requisite materials from which to form an intelligent judgment are now before it. Whether its members look at the origin, the progress, the termination of the war, or at the mockery of a peace now existing, they will find only one unbroken chain of argument in favor of a radical policy of reconstruction. For the omissions of the last session, some excuses may be allowed. A treacherous President stood in the way; and it can be easily seen how reluctant good men might be to admit an apostasy which involved so much of baseness and ingratitude. It was natural that they should seek to save him by bending to him even when he leaned to the side of error. But all is changed now. Congress knows now that it must go on without his aid, and even against his machinations. The advantage of the present session over the last is immense. Where that investigated, this has the facts. Where that walked by faith, this may walk by sight. Where that halted, this must go forward, and where that failed, this must succeed, giving the country whole measures where that gave us half-measures, merely as a means of saving the elections in a few doubtful districts. That Congress saw what was right, but distrusted the enlightenment of the loyal masses; but what was forborne in distrust of the people must now be done with a full knowledge that the people expect and require it. The members go to Washington fresh from the inspiring presence of the people. In every considerable public meeting, and in almost every conceivable way, whether at court-house, school-house, or cross-roads, in doors and out, the subject has been discussed, and the people have emphatically pronounced in favor of a radical policy. Listening to the doctrines of expediency and compromise with pity, impatience, and disgust, they have everywhere broken into demonstrations of the wildest enthusiasm when a brave word has been spoken in favor of equal rights and impartial suffrage. Radicalism, so far from being odious, is now the popular passport to power. The men most bitterly charged with it go to Congress with the largest majorities, while the timid and doubtful are sent by lean majorities, or else left at home. The strange controversy between the President and Congress, at one time so threatening, is disposed of by the people. The high reconstructive powers which he so confidently, ostentatiously, and haughtily claimed, have been disallowed, denounced, and utterly repudiated; while those claimed by Congress have been confirmed.

Of the spirit and magnitude of the canvass nothing need be said. The appeal was to the people, and the verdict was worthy of the tribunal. Upon an occasion of his own selection, with the advice and approval of his astute Secretary, soon after the members of Congress had returned to their constituents, the President quitted the executive mansion, sandwiched himself between two recognized heroes,—men whom the whole country delighted to honor,—and, with all the advantage which such company could give him, stumped the country from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, advocating everywhere his policy as against that of Congress. It was a strange sight, and perhaps the most disgraceful exhibition ever made by any President; but, as no evil is entirely unmixed, good has come of this, as from many others. Ambitious, unscrupulous, energetic, indefatigable, voluble, and plausible,—a political gladiator, ready for a "set-to" in any crowd,—he is beaten in his own chosen field, and stands to-day before the country as a convicted usurper, a political criminal, guilty of a bold and persistent attempt to possess himself of the legislative powers solemnly secured to Congress by the Constitution. No vindication could be more complete, no condemnation could be more absolute and humiliating. Unless reopened by the sword, as recklessly threatened in some circles, this question is now closed for all time.

Without attempting to settle here the metaphysical and somewhat theological question (about which so much has already been said and written), whether once in the Union means always in the Union,—agreeably to the formula, Once in grace always in grace,—it is obvious to common sense that the rebellious States stand to-day, in point of law, precisely where they stood when, exhausted, beaten, conquered, they fell powerless at the feet of Federal authority. Their State governments were overthrown, and the lives and property of the leaders of the Rebellion were forfeited. In reconstructing the institutions of these shattered and overthrown States, Congress should begin with a clean slate, and make clean work of it. Let there be no hesitation. It would be a cowardly deference to a defeated and treacherous President, if any account were made of the illegitimate, one-sided, sham governments hurried into existence for a malign purpose in the absence of Congress. These pretended governments, which were never submitted to the people, and from participation in which four millions of the loyal people were excluded by Presidential order, should now be treated according to their true character, as shams and impositions, and supplanted by true and legitimate governments, in the formation of which loyal men, black and white, shall participate.

It is not, however, within the scope of this paper to point out the precise steps to be taken, and the means to be employed. The people are less concerned about these than the grand end to be attained. They demand such a reconstruction as shall put an end to the present anarchical state of things in the late rebellious States,—where frightful murders and wholesale massacres are perpetrated in the very presence of Federal soldiers. This horrible business they require shall cease. They want a reconstruction such as will protect loyal men, black and white, in their persons and property; such a one as will cause Northern industry, Northern capital, and Northern civilization to flow into the South, and make a man from New England as much at home in Carolina as elsewhere in the Republic. No Chinese wall can now be tolerated. The South must be opened to the light of law and liberty, and this session of Congress is relied upon to accomplish this important work.

The plain, common-sense way of doing this work, as intimated at the beginning, is simply to establish in the South one law, one government, one administration of justice, one condition to the exercise of the elective franchise, for men of all races and colors alike. This great measure is sought as earnestly by loyal white men as by loyal blacks, and is needed alike by both. Let sound political prescience but take the place of an unreasoning prejudice, and this will be done.

Men denounce the negro for his prominence in this discussion; but it is no fault of his that in peace as in war, that in conquering Rebel armies as in reconstructing the rebellious States, the right of the negro is the true solution of our national troubles. The stern logic of events, which goes directly to the point, disdaining all concern for the color or features of men, has determined the interests of the country as identical with and inseparable from those of the negro.

The policy that emancipated and armed the negro—now seen to have been wise and proper by the dullest—was not certainly more sternly demanded than is now the policy of enfranchisement. If with the negro was success in war, and without him failure, so in peace it will be found that the nation must fall or flourish with the negro.

Fortunately, the Constitution of the United States knows no distinction between citizens on account of color. Neither does it know any difference between a citizen of a State and a citizen of the United States. Citizenship evidently includes all the rights of citizens, whether State or national. If the Constitution knows none, it is clearly no part of the duty of a Republican Congress now to institute one. The mistake of the last session was the attempt to do this very thing, by a renunciation of its power to secure political rights to any class of citizens, with the obvious purpose to allow the rebellious States to disfranchise, if they should see fit, their colored citizens. This unfortunate blunder must now be retrieved, and the emasculated citizenship given to the negro supplanted by that contemplated in the Constitution of the United States, which declares that the citizens of each State shall enjoy all the rights and immunities of citizens of the several States,—so that a legal voter in any State shall be a legal voter in all the States.

Footnotes

  1. In the final sentence of his essay, Frederick Douglass reiterates his two primary political desires: to encourage the primacy of the federal government over disparate state governments and to enfranchise all American citizens, African-American or white, Northern or Southern. Douglass’s method of crafting a conclusion which seamlessly combines and highlights his two main points serves as an example of effective rhetoric.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  2. To “disfranchise” is to “disenfranchise,” which means to deprive someone of the right to vote. The disenfranchisement of African Americans by Southerners was one of the most significant challenges to the advancement of civil rights in the wake of the war.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  3. Here Douglass again tackles the issue of states’ rights. In trying to grant citizenship to former slaves in the wake of the Emancipation Proclamation, Congress encountered the problem of whether the definition of citizenship could alter from state to state. Douglass proposes that citizenship should not be thus alterable, that an American citizen in one state ought to be an American citizen in all states, maintaining all the rights and privileges of a citizen. The Fourteenth Amendment of 1868 clarified this point but did not eradicate resistance among the Southern states.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  4. Douglass is correct to indicate that in 1866 the Constitution did not delineate citizens according to race. Despite this fact, Congress was compelled to pass the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868, a measure which clarified the citizenship of all Americans, regardless of race.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  5. The policy that Frederick Douglass refers to here is the Emancipation Proclamation, issued in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln. Douglass’s point is that just as the Emancipation Proclamation was met first with resistance and later with acceptance, so will the controversial cause of African American suffrage eventually be viewed as a clear and necessary advancement.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  6. Douglass suggests here that what is best for the country is what is best for African Americans, and vice versa. His point is that African Americans represent neither a nuisance nor a specialized group in discussions of Reconstruction. Rather, all Americans are genuinely seeking the same goals and the process of Reconstruction ought to be approached from such an angle.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  7. Douglass is calling for two developments here. First, he wants a centralized federal government guiding the South, rather than scattered, inconsistent state legislatures. Second, he wants enfranchisement for those of all races, including African Americans. While the changes he proposes would take many decades to come about, Congress soon passed the laws he calls for here in the form of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  8. In this metaphor, Douglass reveals his broader vision for the United States in the wake of the Civil War. The Great Wall of China stretches along the western Chinese border and was built and maintained over millennia to keep Mongolian tribes out. Douglass views a similar, though metaphorical, wall dividing the North and South of the United States, with the South—in the mode of medieval China—resisting the North’s laws and values. Thus, along with Reconstruction, Douglass is calling for “the light of law and liberty” to flow into the South. Ultimately, Douglass is calling for national unity.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  9. According to the values of Northerners, progressive for their time, the ideal constituency would have been all male citizens, “black and white.” The cause of women’s suffrage had already begun, however, and would advance for the next half century, eventually culminating in the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. Frederick Douglass was an active figure in the women’s rights movement, which was centered in New England. In fact, there was a great deal of overlap between abolitionists and women’s rights activists.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  10. Here Douglass refers to President Johnson’s initiation of the new “pretended” state governments without holding democratic elections. The Southern states held conventions to draft new constitutions and vote for new officials. African Americans—the “four millions” Douglass mentions—were excluded from these conventions, per Johnson’s orders. It was during these conventions, which largely consisted of ex-Confederate white men, that the brutal “Black Codes” were passed.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  11. Douglass recommends a fate for the new state governments of the South: “begin with a clean slate, and make clean work of it.” As President Johnson instated of a new set of Southern governors and legislative bodies, Congress watched in bafflement and fury. Douglass’s suggestion to Congress is to wipe the slate clean of Johnson’s questionable choices, and start over in the reinstitution of the Southern state governments.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  12. The phrase “Once in grace, always in grace” refers to the Christian notion of eternal security, which originated in the writings of St. Augustine in the 5th century. Eternal security suggests that those who are faithful to God will always remain so, despite any sinful acts along the way. Frederick Douglass offers this Augustinian formula as context for the status of the Southern states, who have sinned in their rebellion. Douglass nods to the ongoing debates over whether the South may redeem itself, though he does not throw his own voice in.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  13. The “strange controversy” Douglass refers to is the rift between President Johnson and Congress. Johnson first turned from Congress when enacting a series of Reconstruction measures. Congress reacted by rejecting the new batch of Southern congressmen and passing a series of civil rights-oriented laws without Johnson’s approval.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  14. An “apostasy” is an abandonment of faith. In this case, Douglass is suggesting that those who wish to see the advancement of civil rights might experience despair in the wake of President Johnson’s brash, retrogressive actions.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  15. Douglass refers to President Andrew Johnson as “a treacherous President” for several reasons. Johnson undertook the process of Reconstruction by shutting out the opinions of Congress and effectively resurrecting the former governing bodies of the South. Johnson handpicked new governors for the Southern states and gave each state the opportunity to gather a whites-only convention and draft a new state constitution. These actions infuriated Congress and Douglass alike.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  16. Here Douglass appeals to Congress to push for responsible Reconstruction at a faster rate. Douglass takes a no-excuses approach, stating that Congress has had enough time to enact the proper changes. Douglass’s idea of enough time is one year, for this essay was published one year after the end of the war. Ultimately, it would take five years for Congress to pass the entire body of civil rights legislation Douglass calls for.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  17. Diction choices such as “anarchical,” “frightful murders,” and “wholesale massacres” serve as a pathos appeal, or an appeal to the emotions of his audience. Douglass uses this language to bring home the dangers present in the “late rebellious States” to his readers and emphasize the need for consistent federal policies to protect the people from such violence.

    — Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor
  18. Douglass refers to President Johnson as a “convicted usurper” because of Johnson’s actions immediately after the end of the Civil War. A “usurper” is someone who seizes power or authority without appropriate cause. While Johnson was Lincoln’s vice president, Douglass calls him a usurper because of Johnson’s immediate actions after Lincoln’s assassination, which he performed without consulting Congress. Douglass likely states that Johnson is “convicted” of these crimes because Congress took measures into their own hands to protect the freed African Americans by passing legislation and overriding Johnson’s veto for the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

    — Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor
  19. In the pursuit of women’s rights, Douglass was a strong supporter. The first American women’s rights convention, known as the Seneca Falls Convention, was held in June of 1848. Douglass was the only African American present, and he eloquently argued for women’s suffrage, signing a key document in women’s suffrage—Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s Declaration of Sentiments.

    — Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor
  20. The noun “suffrage” has had varied meanings over time, but from the 18th century on, it has referred to exercising one’s right to vote. For Douglass, “impartial suffrage” is akin to full enfranchisement of all American citizens. Douglass was not only an advocate for African-American suffrage, he also was a vocal proponent of women’s suffrage in the 19th century, supporting the efforts of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and other women’s rights activists.

    — Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor
  21. Douglass employs a rhetorical strategy in this passage to make an appeal to his audience. By claiming that people from all walks of life have expressed favor for a radical policy, Douglass not only illustrates that his argument has broad support but also connects with the public, showing that their concerns are his concerns.

    — Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor
  22. The upas, Antiaris toxicaria, is a tree known for the deadly poisons it produces. Douglass uses the upas as a metaphor for the systemic problems at the heart of the United States, namely slavery and inequality. Just as one must uproot and destroy the upas in its entirety, so must the United States eradicate the remaining sources of inequality.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  23. Henry Clay was a famous politician from Kentucky who served as a senator, representative, and secretary of state. Known for his remarkable ability to forge compromises between clashing interests, he was instrumental in limiting the spread of Southern slavery in the decade before the Civil War. Despite his Kentucky background, he brought to Washington a staunch anti-slavery stance.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  24. The word “bond” literally refers to a restraint, or something which binds. So, a “bondman” refers to someone kept in bondage, such as a serf or a slave, but it also has historically referred to peasants or those in service to a superior. Douglass contrasts the bondman with the tyrant to appeal to a broad audience by claiming that regardless of status, rebellion can happen when reason fails.

    — Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor
  25. Here Douglass discusses how social and political problems build up below the level of public awareness. Such a trend is particularly true in a time of prosperity and bustling busyness, as was the case in the United States—particularly the North—during the mid-19th century. The problem Douglass targets is that of class inequality, a deep disease of which Southern rebellion was a mere symptom. Only a clear crisis can alert the public to structural ills. Douglass illustrates this phenomenon with the metaphor of the broken bilge pump that goes unnoticed until a storm strikes and its disrepair becomes lamentably clear.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  26. In this passage, Douglass is presaging the Fourteenth Amendment, which would be passed two years later, in 1868. The Fourteenth Amendment, one of the most important pieces of legislation of the Reconstruction era, definitively granted full citizenship to all natural-born Americans, regardless of race or former enslavement. As with many of the changes Douglass calls for in this essay, the proper laws were passed swiftly but the deeper sources of racism continued to linger long after.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  27. Douglass expresses his desire for the full enfranchisement of African Americans, a change that would come about four years later with the passing of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870. Douglass would go on to champion the cause of African-American suffrage for the rest of his life. Even after the passing of the Fifteenth Amendment, many white Southerners have endeavored, often effectively, to block African Americans from voting.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  28. The noun “franchise” means “freedom,” or access to privileges and rights granted by a governing body. When Douglass expresses a desire to “give to every loyal citizen the elective franchise,” he means the power to vote, as full enfranchisement—having the same rights as whites—was not yet a reality for African Americans during Reconstruction.

    — Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor
  29. Douglass’s use of an accessible metaphor allows him to appeal to a wider audience. Here, the “arm of the Federal government” refers to the influence it has in enforcing laws. On a connotative level, “arm” calls to mind “arms,” which also suggests that Douglass includes the military power of the Federal government in this claim. This brings up a practical perspective: enforcing the laws through Federal troops is costly, expensive, and cannot reach the rights of all individuals.

    — Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor
  30. Douglass uses the adjective “despotic” in several locations in this text. The word itself refers to the nature of a despot, or a tyrant that possesses absolute power. His use of this word helps to clarify that while he favors a strong federal government, he is against a government that abuses its power and oppresses its citizenry.

    — Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor
  31. Douglass takes a nuanced view of federal governance. He supports a centralized federal government and favors consistency across the nation. However, he knows that there is a limit to how much power a government ought to wield. The problem of protecting freedmen highlights the challenge of striking such a balance. To enforce new federal laws protecting freedmen, there would need to be a “Federal officer at every cross-road.” Such a solution is not only unrealistic but also suffocating to a democratic body—in Douglass’s words, it is “despotic.”

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  32. Congress established the Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees, known as the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill, shortly before the Civil War. Since Lincoln and others knew that the Emancipation Proclamation could only temporarily serve until a constitutional amendment was instituted, the bureau helped support the newly freed slaves by providing food, opportunities to lease land, and negotiating labor contracts.

    — Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor
  33. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 in response to the Black Codes that the former Confederate States had established. These codes essentially recreated most aspects of slavery, implementing discriminatory laws to keep African Americans subjugated by barring them from owning land or meeting after dark. Police had the power to arrest unemployed African Americans and force them to work for the white men who bailed them out.

    — Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor
  34. Douglass confronts the immense challenges of dismantling the tradition of Southern slavery. He understands that new laws alone cannot obliterate the underlying attitudes, prejudices, and values that accompany the institution of slavery. Douglass notes that, despite emancipation, slavery “could exist… even against law.” This is correct; indentured servitude continued in the South for decades after the Emancipation Proclamation, often backed up by insidious “Black Codes.”

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  35. Douglass constructed the preceding part of this paragraph in a set of conditional “whether” clauses. This allows him to ask rhetorical questions without actually asking them, allowing his audience to understand them as issues needing resolution. This serves as an appeal to his audience by allowing them to interpret his conditions and sympathize with his point. With this line, he claims that despite the actions of Congress in 1865 and the majority of 1866, the central, lasting answers to how to approach Reconstruction need to be addressed.

    — Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor
  36. Douglass employs the metaphors to “deliberate with daggers” and “vote with revolvers” to emphasize the danger and disloyalty of incorporating Confederate politicians into the US government. Both daggers and revolvers are weapons, so saying politicians deliberate and vote with them suggests that no constructive debate is possible. Douglass is likely referring to the former Confederates whom Congress refused to seat in December 1865.

    — Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor
  37. Douglass takes a realistic stance here. Regarding the fates of the recently freed slaves in the South, referred to at the time as “freedmen,” Douglass claims that they must defend themselves. Despite the “long arm” of the federal government, the South remains a hostile territory for African Americans. Newly inked laws cannot quickly erase a deep tradition of racism.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  38. This paragraph displays Douglass’s distaste for states’ rights. In his view, the best government is a strong, centralized federal government. One of the primary sources of division between the North and the South—both before and after the war—was their differing visions of governance. The North favored a powerful federal government, the South strong state governments and minimal federal supervision. President Johnson’s first moves towards Reconstruction aligned with the Southern ideal. Douglass thinks this scattered, state-by-state model of government is a disaster, hampering attempts at nationwide progress.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  39. Douglass claims that “statesmanship” is needed; that is, he believes that the work of Reconstruction requires a skillful, diplomatic approach. Since he makes this claim, he suggests that thus far Reconstruction has not been handled appropriately by those in authority. This claim sets the foundation for his argument by providing the necessary context, identifying the main problem, and offering a proposal for action.

    — Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor
  40. Douglass’s use of “solicitude” here is notable due to varying definitions of the word. In one sense, it refers to a state of unease, disquietude, anxiety, care, or concern. In another, it is similar to “solicitation” and means something similar to “petition.” Douglass’s choice of diction here appears to take both into account: Congress had been subject to unease and concern as well as the petitions of citizens to deal with Reconstruction following the Civil War.

    — Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor
  41. At the time of Frederick Douglass’s writing, Congress was in the middle of passing a series of laws intended to assist the African-American population, both in the North and the South. The Civil Rights Bill granted full citizenship to African Americans; the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill established organizations to assist former slaves in the South; the constitutional amendments—the Thirteenth and Fourteenth—abolished slavery and granted African Americans equal protection under the law. Douglass supports all of these measures but emphasizes that laws alone are not enough to bring proper change to the South, still under the spell of centuries of deeply-ingrained racism.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  42. The 39th Congress met from March 4, 1865, to March 4, 1867. By December of 1866, Congress had enacted the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill and the Civil Rights Act of 1866 in response to President Johnson’s personal Reconstruction policy. He calls the topic of Reconstruction “much-worn” due to the constant debate, opposing policies, and general anxiety around reintegrating the rebel states into the Union. Because of this, he uses the gathering of the second session of Congress as an occasion to call for specific action on Reconstruction, which he outlines shortly.

    — Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor