"Well, now the American people have returned the Republican party to power; and the question is, what will it do? ... For a dozen years and more the Republican party has seemed in a measure paralyzed in the presence of high - handed fraud and brutal violence toward its newly - made citizens. The question now is, will it regain its former health, activity, and power? Will it be as true to its friends in the South as the Democratic party has been to its friends in that section, or will it sacrifice its friends to conciliate its enemies? ... Not only the negro but all honest men, north and south, must hold the Republican party in contempt, if it fails to do its whole duty at this point. The Republican party has made the colored man free; and the Republican party must make him secure in his freedom, or abandon its pretensions."
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
Speech
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…"