BEGINNING OF HIS PUBLIC CAREER
Years had passed and great changes had taken place since Uncle Lawson,
the old colored preacher, who had been Frederick Douglass’s first
spiritual teacher and comforter, had solemnly told him that “the Lord
had a great work for him to do,” and that he must prepare to do it.
These words were spoken at a time when the boy was just beginning to
awaken to the vast possibilities of human life, and, dimly conscious of
his own powers, was groping to find his place in the world. Douglass had
never forgotten this speech. It seemed now that the prophecy of the old
colored man was to be fulfilled. During the first years at New Bedford,
he had been industriously preparing himself to perform the task that
destiny apparently had assigned him. He had no teachers to help him in
his studies, or direct him in his reading. He had no definite notion of
what the future had in store for him, nor of how he was to be used “to
perform the great work,” of which Uncle Lawson had spoken. The latter
believed that his young _protégé_ was to become a preacher of the
Gospel, because that seemed the only possible future of the slave upon
whom unusual gifts had been bestowed. But Douglass had reached the
conclusion that, if any great work had been assigned him, it was in the
direction of securing the freedom of the members of his race in bonds.
He was faithfully preparing himself to meet the emergency that should
call him into the service of that cause.
In the summer of 1841, the opportunity, long waited for, came. A great
anti-slavery convention was called by William Lloyd Garrison and his
friends, to meet at Nantucket. We have already seen how deeply young
Douglass was impressed with Mr. Garrison’s writings in _The Liberator_,
and it can be easily inferred that the word “anti-slavery” should have
stirred him as no other word in the language of freedom. For the first
time since he came to New Bedford he determined to take a holiday for
the purpose of going to Nantucket and becoming as much as possible a
part of the anti-slavery meeting. However ardent others might be in
their interest for the convention, to him it meant everything worth
living for and dying for to find the white people in a free community
taking hold of the question of abolition as if their own kith and kin
were in chains.
Douglass went to see, listen, and learn. This was privilege enough for
one occasion. When he was sought out by a citizen of New Bedford, who
had heard of him, and was asked to say a few words, he was quite
startled. So frightened was he, “it was with much difficulty,” he says,
“that I could stand erect or could command or articulate two words
without hesitation and stammering. I trembled in every limb. I am not
sure that my embarrassment was not the most important part of my speech,
if speech it could be called. The audience sympathized with me and at
once, from having been remarkably silent, it became much excited.”
But his embarrassment soon subsided. Parker Pillsbury, an eye-witness,
says: “When the young man, Douglass, closed late in the evening, none
seemed to know or care for the lateness of the hour. The crowded
congregation had been wrought up almost to enchantment as he turned over
the terrible apocalypse of his experience in slavery.”
If Abolition was a great cause in the minds of those astonished
auditors, it became more sincerely so after the young fugitive from
bondage had concluded. William Lloyd Garrison followed, and of him
Pillsbury says: “I think that Mr. Garrison never before, nor afterward
felt more profoundly the sacredness of his mission. I surely never saw
him more deeply and divinely inspired. He said among other things, ‘Have
we been listening to a thing—a piece of property, or a man?’ ‘A man,’
shouted the audience. ‘And should such a man be held a slave in a
republican and Christian land?’ ‘No, no. Never, never!’ was the fervent
response. ‘Shall such a man be sent back to slavery from the soil of old
Massachusetts?’ Almost the whole assembly sprang with one accord to
their feet and shouted, ‘No, no!’ long and loud.”
Measured by its effect on the audience and by its importance to himself
and the Abolition cause, this first speech was one of the greatest Mr.
Douglass ever made. Only three years out of bondage, never having been
at school, wholly self-taught and coming direct from hard toil to a
platform, he had been invited to speak before an audience of proud and
cultured New Englanders!
The whole thing seemed so incredible and was so unexpected that those
who heard him never ceased to wonder how such wisdom and eloquence could
come from a slave. It was by far the most dramatic and important
incident that had occurred in the anti-slavery fight up to this time.
William Lloyd Garrison was quick to discern that the cause needed this
fugitive slave, more than any other man or thing, as an argument and an
illustration in the further work of the anti-slavery society. Others
spoke from knowledge and conviction gained by reading and study;
Douglass spoke from twenty years’ experience of all the phases of
slave-life. His words had the charm born of things seen, felt, and
suffered. His presentation of the subject was more than argument; it was
a transcript from actual life.
Immediately after the convention, John A. Collins, then the general
agent of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, went to Mr. Douglass
and urged him to accept a position as one of his assistants, publicly to
advocate its principles. This unexpected offer was quite as embarrassing
as was the request for him to speak at the meeting. Acting upon an
impulse of self-mistrust, and a sense of unfitness, he tried to refuse,
but all excuses were swept aside by Mr. Collins, and finally Douglass
decided to make a trial for three months.
After recovering from his first timidity, he entered the fight with
enthusiasm. No one was more surprised than he at his ability to meet the
expectations of the people. In the early part of his work he was
accompanied by George Foster. They traveled and lectured from the same
platform through the eastern counties of Massachusetts. He was
frequently introduced to the audiences as a “chattel,” a “thing,” a
“piece of property,” and Mr. Collins invariably called their attention
to the fact that the speaker was a “graduate from an institution whose
diploma was written upon his back.”
A great deal of interest was excited in the meetings that he was invited
to address. Many of those who came out of curiosity to see and hear a
fugitive slave went away convinced and converted to the anti-slavery
cause. Douglass soon persuaded his friends and associates to think that
he was too much of a man to be employed as a mere “exhibit.” At first
his eloquence and success with the public both delighted and alarmed
them. There began to arise a fear that his power as an orator would
prove too great. It seemed well enough for him to tell the story of his
servitude, but when he indulged in logic and flights of fancy and
invective, it was feared that he would be considered an impostor. If
slavery was such a degrading thing as this man said it was, the question
naturally arose, How, then, did he acquire his accomplishments? Besides,
Douglass did not give the name of his master, or the state from which he
came.
All this was true enough, and the truth was somewhat embarrassing, but
the people did not stop to consider the omission. Douglass was now a
resident of Massachusetts; he was a slave, owned in Maryland. To state
the facts about his identity would be to invite slave-catchers to New
Bedford to reclaim strayed property. There was nothing for him to do but
to keep the dangerous secret securely locked in his own bosom and talk
down the doubts and suspicions that were now and then expressed. George
Foster, Mr. Garrison, Mr. Collins, and other friends, who happened to be
on the same platform with him, were always admonishing him not to appear
too intelligent, too oratorical, or too logical, lest his claim of
having been a slave be discredited. “Give the facts,” they said, “and we
will take care of the philosophy.” “Let us have the facts only.” “Tell
your story, Frederick; people will not believe you were ever a slave, if
you go on in this way.” “Be yourself.” “Better have a little plantation
dialect than not.” “It is not best that you should seem so learned.”
Such were the complaints and warnings that came to him from those who
most admired him, during the first few months of his career as an
orator. The young man could scarcely curb his impatience, so great was
his moral earnestness. The thoughts which he uttered flowed so
spontaneously and uncontrollably from his lips, that it seemed to him he
could no more limit himself than he could stop the force of gravitation.
Speaking of this embarrassment he says: “It was impossible for me to
repeat the same old story month after month and keep up my interest in
it. I could not follow the injunction of my friends, for I was now
reading and thinking. New views of the subject were being presented to
my mind: I could not always curb my moral indignation.”
In order to remove all doubts as to whether he was a slave, he put the
facts, including the name of his master, in the possession of the
Anti-Slavery Society. As soon as Phillips and Garrison knew the truth,
they advised him to go on as before, for if he gave his name and that of
his master, he would be in danger of re-capture,—even in Massachusetts.
When he showed to Wendell Phillips a manuscript detailing the facts of
his slave-life, he was advised “to throw it in the fire”; but so
straightforward and earnest and effective was his work, and so rapid his
development as an orator, that he soon overcame all doubts, and those
who had once urged him to curb his intellectual flights learned to
admire his courage, and to put a higher value on his services to the
cause of Abolition. Whenever there was serious work to be done, and the
best men and women were needed to combat pro-slavery policies and
measures, he was eagerly sought. His name now began to be announced with
those of the foremost advocates of freedom.
In the latter part of the year 1841, and in the early months of 1842,
the Abolitionists were called upon for a show of strength. The appeal
came from Rhode Island. The people of that state were aroused to a high
pitch of interest in an effort to adopt a new constitution in place of
the old colonial charter that had been in use since the Revolution.
Making a new constitution was a political question and every political
contest, however local in concern, afforded occasion for the pro-slavery
and anti-slavery people to clash. In this Rhode Island contest, interest
centred on the proposition to restrict the right of suffrage to white
citizens only. The pro-slavery sentiment of this, as of other Northern
states, was so strong, that there seemed to be a great likelihood of the
“color line” being fixed in the supreme law of the commonwealth. To
combat this danger, the anti-slavery societies massed their forces and
went into the little state to dispute every inch of the ground. Stephen
S. Foster, Parker Pillsbury, Abby Kelley, James Monroe, and Frederick
Douglass were the advance guard. The contest here was somewhat different
from the more or less peaceful work of holding public meetings in
Massachusetts to create public opinion. Here was a clean-cut issue in
which was involved the right of free Negroes to be full citizens in a
Northern state. Under the leadership of Thomas W. Dorr, the pro-slavery
forces had to be opposed by strong arguments and not by mere sentiment.
There was also a decided feeling against “intermeddlers,” as Douglass
and his associates were called. Meetings were held all over the state,
and soon it was plain to be seen that the anti-slavery people were
making progress in overcoming the “Dorrites.” It was a picturesque and
dramatic campaign, the chief features of which were the conspicuous
parts taken by Frederick Douglass, the fugitive slave, and Abby Kelley.
Mr. Douglass says that she “was perhaps the most successful of any of
us. Her youth and simple Quaker beauty, combined with her wonderful
earnestness, her large knowledge and great logical powers bore down all
opposition to the end, wherever she spoke, though she was before pelted
with foul eggs, and no less foul words, from the noisy mobs which
attended us.”
Mr. Douglass speaks in generous praise of the effectiveness of other
anti-slavery advocates, who were associated with him in this campaign.
He himself made a multitude of friends and added immensely to his
prestige as an orator. He was received by many of the leading citizens
of the state, almost as a brother. Among these new friends he gratefully
mentions the Clarks, Keltons, Chases, Adamses, Greens, Eldridges,
Mitchells, Anthonys, Goulds, Fairbanks, and many others.
Yet it was not all smooth sailing for the colored orator. He was
frequently dragged from the cars by mobs, though his associates were
always loyal to him, many of them refusing to go where he could not.
This was especially the case with Wendell Phillips, James Monroe, and
William A. White.
The result of the battle in Rhode Island was a complete triumph over
those who had sought to abridge the suffrage. The victory was not only
important, as a show of strength of the Abolitionists, but it prevented
the establishment of a dangerous precedent which might have had its
influence upon other states.
From Rhode Island, Mr. Douglass was called to speak in various places.
At first he was not always well received, but in nearly every case,
after he had once appeared, converts were made and opposition ceased. At
one time when he, with Garrison, Abby Kelley, and Foster, attempted to
speak in Hartford, Conn., the doors of every hall and church were closed
against them, but they spoke under the open sky, to so much effect that
some of their opponents had the grace to confess to a sense of shame for
such action.
At Grafton, Mass., Douglass was advertised to speak alone. There was no
house, church, or market-place in which he was permitted to appear. Not
to be outdone, he went up and down the streets ringing a dinner-bell
that he had borrowed, announcing that “Frederick Douglass, recently a
slave, will lecture on Grafton Common this evening at seven o’clock.” As
a result of this notice, he spoke to a great concourse of people, and as
usual advanced the cause of Abolition.
In the year 1843, the movement had so far progressed that a great
undertaking was announced. It was proposed to hold one hundred
conventions under the auspices of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society
in such states as New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Ohio, Indiana, and
Pennsylvania. Mr. Douglass was selected as one of the agents to assist
in the work. This was regarded as an ambitious scheme on the part of Mr.
Garrison, and attracted a great deal of public attention. Among the
speakers associated with Mr. Douglass in this tour were George Bradburn,
John A. Collins, James Monroe, Sidney Howard Gay, and Charles Lennox
Remond, the last-named a colored man of unusual eloquence.
Mr. Douglass felt very proud, as well he might, of being given so
prominent a part in this important enterprise, and of being associated
with men of such distinction. The wisdom of holding these conventions
was soon made manifest, when it was discovered how ill-informed were the
masses of the people as to the nature of the issue the Abolitionists
were seeking to force upon the attention of the country.
The crusade received rather a chilly reception in the Green Mountain
State. Along the Erie Canal, from Albany to Buffalo, it was more than
difficult to excite any interest or to make converts. In Syracuse, the
home of Rev. Samuel J. May, and where such men as Gerrit Smith, Beriah
Green, and William Goodell lived, Douglass and his friends could not
obtain a hall, church, or market-place to hold a meeting. Everybody was
discouraged and favored “shaking the dust from off their feet,” and
going to other parts. But Frederick Douglass did not believe in
surrender. He was determined to speak his word for the gospel of
Abolition here, even if he must do so under the open sky, as in
Connecticut and Massachusetts. In the morning he began in a grove with
five people present. So powerful was his appeal that in the afternoon he
had an audience of five hundred and in the evening he was tendered the
use of an old building that had done service as a Congregational church.
In this house the convention was organized and carried on for three
days. The seeds of Abolition were so well sown in Syracuse, that
thereafter it was always hospitable ground for anti-slavery advocates.
Mr. Douglass had a more friendly reception in Rochester, which was to be
his future home. Here he found a goodly number of Abolitionists and his
words made a lasting impression.
The next meeting of importance was in Buffalo. The outlook for a
convention in this western New York city was so discouraging that Mr.
Douglass’s associates turned on their heels and left him to “do Buffalo
alone.” The place appointed was a dilapidated old room that had once
been used as a post-office. No one was there at first except a few
hack-drivers who sauntered in from curiosity. But Mr. Douglass went at
them with great earnestness, as if they could settle all the problems
that were overburdening his heart. Out of this small and unsympathetic
beginning, grew a great convention. Every day for nearly a week, in the
old building, he spoke to constantly increasing crowds of people who
were worth talking to, until finally a large Baptist church was thrown
open to him. Here the size and character of the audience were
flattering. So great was the eagerness to hear him that on Sunday
evening he addressed an outdoor meeting of five thousand people in the
park.
At this Buffalo meeting Mr. Douglass called to his assistance a number
of prominent colored speakers, such as Henry Highland Garnet, Theodore
S. Wright, Amos G. Bearman, Charles M. Ray, and Charles Lennox Remond,
all of powerful speech and growing influence, who held a convention of
their own, at which the ex-slave made an eloquent address.
From this city Douglass continued on his way into Ohio and Indiana. The
Ohio meeting, held in Clinton County, was a notable event. This was the
farthest west Mr. Douglass had been as yet and he now went into the
state of Indiana. This was dangerous ground, as he soon learned when he
attempted to deliver his message. Here he found a mob-spirit harder to
resist than any he had encountered in the East. In attempting to speak
at Richmond, Ind., where Henry Clay had been heard shortly before, he
received a shower of “evil-smelling eggs.” From this place he went to
Pendleton, where he could find no hall or church in which to speak; but,
not to be outdone, he attempted what he had successfully accomplished at
Syracuse, and at other places. He had a platform erected in the woods. A
large assembly of people came out to hear the colored orator, but the
Hoosiers, in this part of the state, were determined not to be
persuaded.
It was, as one of them rudely expressed it, a case of “no nigger speaker
for us.” As soon as the meeting began, a mob of fifty or sixty
rough-looking men ordered Douglass to stop. An attempt to disregard this
threatening command, maddened the rioters. They tore down the platform
and violently assaulted the orator and his associate, Mr. White. Seeing
the danger, Douglass began to fight his way through the crowd with a
club. The sight of a weapon in the hands of a Negro angered the mob
still more, and they set upon him with such fury that he was felled to
the ground, being beaten so fiercely that he was left for dead. Having
dispersed the meeting, the men mounted their horses and rode away. Mr.
Douglass’s right hand was broken, and he was in a state of
unconsciousness for some time. He was unable to speak for several days,
being tenderly cared for by a Mrs. Neal Hardy, a member of the Society
of Friends, until his wounds were healed, but he never recovered the
full use of his right hand.
Notwithstanding this rough treatment, Mr. Douglass would not allow
himself to be frightened out of the state. He continued his work for a
long time, and compelled a respectful and peaceful hearing. He was no
coward and was not afraid of mobs. He did not stop until, according to
the plans determined upon by the Anti-Slavery Society of Massachusetts,
the one hundred conventions had been held. The work was accomplished, in
spite of indifference, contemptuous criticism, and sometimes violent and
bloody opposition.
Although it seemed at the time that not much had been achieved, the seed
sown was to bear fruit when a few years later the South and North were
arrayed against each other in the great struggle for the preservation of
the Union.