"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 Constitution 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 General 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?"
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Presidents of the United StatesMilitary leaders from the United StatesGovernors of FloridaPoliticians from South CarolinaPoliticians from North Carolina
Original Language: English
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Sources
Frederick Douglass, "What the Black Man Wants", speech in Boston, Massachusetts (1865)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson
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Andrew Jackson
1767 – 1845
US-amerikanischer Politiker und der siebte Präsident der Vereinigten Staaten (1829-1837).
66 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Andrew Jackson →
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