104:(Article 4, section 2); and the clause giving Congress the power to "suppress Insurrections" (Article 1, section 8). In each instance, Douglass took a provision and elaborated a worst-case argument and his own argument. Douglass argued that the Three-Fifths Clause "deprives States of two-fifths of their natural basis of representation"; that the Migration or Importation Clause allowed Congress to end the importation of slaves from Africa in 1808; that the Fugitive Slave Clause does not apply to slaves but rather to "Person held to Service or Labour", which do not include slaves, because a slave "is a simple article of property. He does not owe and cannot owe service. He cannot even make a contract"; and that the clause giving Congress the power to suppress insurrections gives Congress the power to end slavery, "f it should turn out that slavery is a source of insurrection, that there is no security from insurrection while slavery lasts...." Douglass also examined point by point the meaning of the objects contained in the Preamble, which he listed as "union, defence, welfare, tranquility, justice, and liberty". Douglass concluded that of the six objects slavery "is a foe of them all".
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He argued in the speech for a reform and not a breakup of government, saying, "Do you break up your government? By no means. You say:— Reform the government; and that is just what the abolitionists who wish for liberty in the United States propose." Douglass saw no need to break up the government,
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debated about the contents and nature of the United States
Constitution in front of an interested public. Prior to Douglass's arrival Thompson organized several lectures to denounce Douglass. "But Douglass loved these public squabbles, and his well of resentments and supply of sarcasm against the
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Douglass used the allegory of the "man from another country" during the speech, arguing that abolitionists should take a moment to examine the plainly written text of the
Constitution instead of secret meanings, saying, "It is not whether slavery existed ... at the time of the adoption of the
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Constitution" nor that "those slaveholders, in their hearts, intended to secure certain advantages in that instrument for slavery." This was a reference to Roger Taney's view that the
Constitution was pro-slavery, which was the view of most lawyers at the time.
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Douglass articulated his belief that the "great national enactment done by the people ... can only be altered, amended, or added to by the people," and that the ambiguity of many of its clauses leaned against the flimsy evidence offered by slaveholders.
63:, Douglass examined many issues of the day including the text and history of the United States Constitution. Over time, Douglass had a well-publicized break with Garrisonian principles and announced his change of opinion in the
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The speech has received glowing reviews from historians, who note
Douglass's "power of mature reasoning" in this "majestic" speech and his "ingenious textual interpretation of the Constitution".
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Frederick
Douglass, born into slavery, escaped and upon meeting Garrisonian abolitionists joined their ranks. Highly intelligent and capable, Douglass became an active leader and founded
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The subject of the annual Thomas M. Jorde
Symposium that was held on November 15, 2022 was "Frederick Douglass and the Two Constitutions, Proslavery and Antislavery". The speakers were
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gave on March 26, 1860, in
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with respect to the
Constitution as "a pro-slavery document." A decade later, Douglass was accused of having supported
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The Heroic Slave, a heartwarming
Narrative of the Adventures of Madison Washington, in Pursuit of Liberty
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Slavery and Sacred Texts: The Bible, the
Constitution, and Historical Consciousness in Antebellum America
439:(1860) FREDERICK DOUGLASS, "THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES: IS IT PRO-SLAVERY OR ANTI-SLAVERY?"
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During the speech, Douglass examined one by one the four provisions Thompson cited as evidence: the
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398:"SLAVEHOLDERS AND THEIR NORTHERN ABETTORS": FREDERICK DOUGLASS'S LONG CONSTITUTIONAL JOURNEY
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126:"Frederick Douglass's Constitution: From Garrisonian Abolitionist to Lincoln Republican"
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because he denied "that the constitution guarantees the right to hold property in man."
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Advocates of Freedom: African American Transatlantic Abolitionism in the British Isles
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A Glorious Liberty: Frederick Douglass and the Fight for an Antislavery Constitution
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The Constitution of the United States: is it pro-slavery or anti-slavery?
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The Constitution of the United States: is it pro-slavery or anti-slavery?
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What Do You Think, Mr. Ramirez? - The American Revolution in Education
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Frederick Douglass Project Writings: Change of Opinion Announced
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
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A Documentary History of the American Civil War Era, Volume 2
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The Cambridge Companion to the United States Constitution
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The Cambridge Companion to the United States Constitution
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Bonds of Citizenship: Law and the Labors of Emancipation
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African American founding fathers of the United States
154:"Frederick Douglass and the Original Originalists".
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The Negro Author: His Development in America to 1900
234:Divided Hearts: Britain and the American Civil War
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581:American Anti-Slavery Society 1843 lecture tour
272:Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, p. 316
191:a recording of the symposium is available here
656:List of things named after Frederick Douglass
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137:The Negro Author: His Development in America
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365:Processes of Constitutional Decisionmaking
639:Frederick Douglass National Historic Site
387:Frederick Douglass and the Fourth of July
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211:Frederick Douglass and the Fourth of July
587:What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?
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855:United States constitutional commentary
454:The American Constitution and the Slave
148:. Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press
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526:Life and Times of Frederick Douglass
156:Brigham Young University Law Review
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76:Garrisonians seemed bottomless".
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309:THE CANONS OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
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152:Rebeiro, Bradley (2023).
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711:Banneker-Douglass Museum
758:Charles Remond Douglass
618:Seneca Falls Convention
177:, Christopher Tomlins,
135:Loggin, Vernon (1931).
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413:Geoffrey Galt Harpham
108:Historians' reactions
102:Fugitive Slave Clause
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752:Lewis Henry Douglass
740:Helen Pitts Douglass
734:Anna Murray Douglass
661:U.S. Capitol statue
641:(home and memorial)
175:Annette Gordon-Reed
130:Missouri Law Review
98:Three-Fifths Clause
34:" is a speech that
817:The Good Lord Bird
812:(2008 documentary)
801:Frederick Douglass
793:Frederick Douglass
628:Equal Rights Party
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36:Frederick Douglass
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139:. New York:
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183:James Oakes
56:newspaper.
865:1860 works
849:Categories
766:(grandson)
748:(daughter)
537:Newspapers
198:References
65:North Star
46:Background
164:Symposium
158:, vol. 48
603:" (1885)
596:" (1860)
589:" (1852)
574:Speeches
459:LibriVox
443:Abridged
311:, page 2
262:, p. 407
213:, note 7
124:(2016).
780:Related
555:Fiction
726:Family
649:Honors
566:(1852)
529:(1881)
521:(1855)
513:(1845)
181:, and
80:Speech
760:(son)
754:(son)
258:, by
611:Life
189:and
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185:.
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193:.
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