"I have sometimes thought that the American people are too great to be small, too just and magnanimous to oppress the weak, too brave to yield up the right to the strong, and too grateful for public services ever to forget them or fail to reward them. I have fondly hoped that this estimate of American character would soon cease to be contradicted or put in doubt. But the favor with which this cowardly proposition of disfranchisement has been received by public men, white and black, by Republicans as well as Democrats, has shaken my faith in the nobility of the nation. I hope and trust all will come out right in the end, but the immediate future looks dark, and troubled. I cannot shut my eyes to the ugly facts before me."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Civil rights activistsEditors from the United StatesAbolitionistsPublishers from the United StatesJournalists from Maryland
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass (c. February 1818 – 20 February 1895) was an American abolitionist, orator, author, editor, reformer, women's rights advocate, and statesman during the American Civil War. He was born a slave in Maryland, as Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey.
304 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Frederick Douglass →
Related Quotes
"A simple leaden bullet and a few grains of powder are sufficient in the shortest limit of time to blast and ruin all …"
"If I have done anything for the colored people, it is in a great measure due to my having had the good - fortune, whe…"
"Each colored voter of the state should say in scripture phrase, 'may my hand forget its cunning and my tongue cleave …"
"It is not true that the Republican party has not endeavored to protect the negro in his right to vote. The whole mora…"
"Fellow citizens, there is little necessity on this occasion to speak at length and critically of this great and good …"
"I have said that President Lincoln was a white man, and shared the prejudices common to his countrymen towards the co…"
"The great fact underlying the claim for universal suffrage is that every man is himself and belongs to himself, and r…"
"The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous."
"Our faith in him was often taxed and strained to the uttermost, but it never failed…we were at times stunned, grieved…"
"Suppose it be granted that Mr. Cleveland is a just man, and desires to protect colored citizens in the exercise of th…"