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Frederick Douglass
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Excerpted from
Blacks Should Have the Right to Vote
by Frederick Douglass, 1865
 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. 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.
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It
may be objected, however, that this pressing of the negroes’ 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, widespread, 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. Hence,
I say, now is the time to press this right.
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