Frederick Douglass

* * *

United States Minister Resident to Haiti

In office
November 14, 1889 - July 30, 1891
Preceded by  |  John E. W. Thompson
Succeeded by  |  John S. Durham

* * *

Born  |  c. February 1817
Cordova, Maryland
Died  |  February 20, 1895 (aged c. 78)
Washington D.C.
Political party  |  Republican

Frederick Douglass (c. February 1817 - February 20, 1895) was a Preacher, an Abolitionist, outspoken Republican, ardent defender of Constitutional Liberty, and friend of President Abraham Lincoln.

A monument to Douglass in Rochester, New York was torn down by Progressive Democrats during the 2020 Marxist uprising.[1]

## Contents

* 1 Background
* 2 Frederick Douglass on religion
* 3 Quotes
* 4 See also
* 5 References
* 6 External links

## Background[edit]

Douglass was born as Frederick Baily and was raised as a slave. He escaped to Massachusetts at age 20 and changed his name to Frederick Douglass in order to conceal himself from slave catchers. Like most abolitionists in his day, he was a member of the Republican Party.

He developed marvelous debating and oratory skills to expose the injustices of slavery by reading the book The Columbian Orator,[2] which he started to read around age 12. William Lloyd Garrison, publisher of the abolitionist Liberator Newspaper, hired him.

Douglass published a best-selling autobiography, but then felt he had to flee to England to avoid being caught by slave catchers. Reformer Daniel O'Connell formed a friendship with him there.

Upon his return to New York, he founded the "North Star" newspaper.

## Frederick Douglass on religion[edit]

Douglass was a committed Christian and an active preacher at the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.[3]

See also: Black Americans, history and religion

> I was not more than thirteen years old, when in my loneliness and destitution I longed for some one to whom I could go, as to a father and protector. The preaching of a white Methodist minister, named Hanson, was the means of causing me to feel that in God I had such a friend. He thought that all men, great and small, bond and free, were sinners in the sight of God: that they were by nature rebels against His government; and that they must repent of their sins, and be reconciled to God through Christ. I cannot say that I had a very distinct notion of what was required of me, but one thing I did know well: I was wretched and had no means of making myself otherwise.
> I consulted a good old colored man named Charles Lawson, and in tones of holy affection he told me to pray, and to "cast all my care upon God." This I sought to do; and though for weeks I was a poor, broken-hearted mourner, traveling through doubts and fears, I finally found my burden lightened, and my heart relieved. I loved all mankind, slaveholders not excepted, though I abhorred slavery more than ever. I saw the world in a new light, and my great concern was to have everybody converted. My desire to learn increased, and especially, did I want a thorough acquaintance with the contents of the Bible.[4]

His motto was "Right is of no sex - Truth is of no color - God is the Father of us all, and we are all Brethren."

Douglass also wrote, "I loved all mankind, slaveholder not excepted, though I abhorred slavery more than ever. I saw the world in a new light ... I gathered scattered pages of the Bible from the filthy street gutters, and washed and dried them, that ... I might get a word or two of wisdom from them."

## Quotes[edit]

* "To guard, protect, and maintain his liberty the freedman should have the ballot; that the liberties of the American people were dependent upon the ballot-box, the jury-box, and the cartridge-box; that without these no class of people could live and flourish in this country" [5]
* Sometimes quoted as: "A man's rights rest in three boxes. The ballot box, jury box and the cartridge box."

## See also[edit]

* Abolitionism
* What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?
* Black History
* The Constitution of the United States: is it pro-slavery or anti-slavery

## References[edit]

1. ↑ https://saraacarter.com/statue-of-frederick-douglass-former-slave-and-abolitionist-torn-down-and-damaged-in-new-york/
2. ↑ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,p. 49, "Every opportunity I got, I used to read this book."
3. ↑ Frederick Douglass, Preacher
4. ↑ Douglass, Frederick (1882); The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass: From 1817–1882. 3rd edition by John Lobb. Christian Age Office. p. 63.
5. ↑ The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, 1882, p. 333

## External links[edit]

* Works by Frederick Douglass - text and free audio \- LibriVox