A Speech by a black man in 1860 that identified Lincoln for what he was

[BaalChatzaf]

Please read this remarkable speech given in Framingham MA in 1860 by a black man who identifies the hypocrisy of Lincoln and other Republicans.

The speech was given by A. Ford Douglas a former slave.

http://www.blackpast.org/?q=1860-h-ford-douglas-i-do-not-believe-antislavery-abraham-lincoln

Ba'al Chatzaf

[BaalChatzaf]

Please read this remarkable speech given in Framingham MA in 1860 by a black man who identifies the hypocrisy of Lincoln and other Republicans.

The speech was given by A. Ford Douglas a former slave.

http://www.blackpast...abraham-lincoln

Ba'al Chatzaf

Just a comment about the style of the speech. Has any contemporary American political speaker matched the eloquence of this speech. Read the speech for style as well as content. Jeez! This country has been "dumbed down" since 1860.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Please read this remarkable speech given in Framingham MA in 1860 by a black man who identifies the hypocrisy of Lincoln and other Republicans.

The speech was given by A. Ford Douglas a former slave.

Bob,

That's "H." Ford Douglas, not "A." Ford Douglas.

Also, this speech happened right before the Civil War and a few years before Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation..

H. Ford Douglas later enlisted in the Union Army and rose to the rank of Captain. Here is a bio: Douglas, Captain H. Ford (1831-1865).

From the bio:

He appeared at the Ohio State Convention again 1851 and 1852, arguing that African Americans would never gain equality in the United States, and advocating African American emigration. Douglas supported William Lloyd Garrison’s view that the United States Constitution was a proslavery document because it did not exclusively prohibit slavery. He claimed it was written with the intention of continuing slavery. Douglas also felt African-Americans allowed slavery to continue by remaining in the United States and making themselves subject to the U.S. Constitution.

. . .

... he continued to support the emigration movement, which now promoted emigration to Africa, Haiti, and Central America.

After a trip to New England in May 1860 at the invitation of Parker Pillsbury, Douglas became an abolitionist speaker. He shocked many in his audience with open calls for violence to end slavery, and spoke about it increasingly after 1860. He continued to promote his belief that it was the presence of slavery, rather than belief in racial inferiority, that facilitated the discrimination against free blacks.

After encouraging slaves from Missouri to escape to freedom at the outbreak of the Civil War, Douglas joined the Union Army, enlisting as a private in Company G of the 95th Regiment Illinois Infantry Volunteers on July 26, 1862. In April 1863, Douglas was granted permission to raise his own independent company of black soldiers, and was assigned to the 10th Louisiana Regiment of African Descent (Corps d’Afrique) in June 1863. He became one of less than thirty black commissioned officers during the Civil War and the only African American man to raise and command his own company.

Michael

[BaalChatzaf]

Please read this remarkable speech given in Framingham MA in 1860 by a black man who identifies the hypocrisy of Lincoln and other Republicans.

The speech was given by A. Ford Douglas a former slave.

Bob,

That's "H." Ford Douglas, not "A." Ford Douglas.

Also, this speech happened right before the Civil War and a few years before Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation..

H. Ford Douglas later enlisted in the Union Army and rose to the rank of Captain. Here is a bio: Douglas, Captain H. Ford (1831-1865).

From the bio:

He appeared at the Ohio State Convention again 1851 and 1852, arguing that African Americans would never gain equality in the United States, and advocating African American emigration. Douglas supported William Lloyd Garrison's view that the United States Constitution was a proslavery document because it did not exclusively prohibit slavery. He claimed it was written with the intention of continuing slavery. Douglas also felt African-Americans allowed slavery to continue by remaining in the United States and making themselves subject to the U.S. Constitution.

. . .

... he continued to support the emigration movement, which now promoted emigration to Africa, Haiti, and Central America.

After a trip to New England in May 1860 at the invitation of Parker Pillsbury, Douglas became an abolitionist speaker. He shocked many in his audience with open calls for violence to end slavery, and spoke about it increasingly after 1860. He continued to promote his belief that it was the presence of slavery, rather than belief in racial inferiority, that facilitated the discrimination against free blacks.

After encouraging slaves from Missouri to escape to freedom at the outbreak of the Civil War, Douglas joined the Union Army, enlisting as a private in Company G of the 95th Regiment Illinois Infantry Volunteers on July 26, 1862. In April 1863, Douglas was granted permission to raise his own independent company of black soldiers, and was assigned to the 10th Louisiana Regiment of African Descent (Corps d'Afrique) in June 1863. He became one of less than thirty black commissioned officers during the Civil War and the only African American man to raise and command his own company.

Michael

Thank you for the corrections. In any case Douglas nailed the Republicans square. Lincoln was a racist. And to preserve the Union, Lincoln would have put up with slavery (which Lincoln actually said). What I found amazing in Ford's speech was the level of discourse. Both he and the audience functioned at a higher conceptual level than is found in contemporary political discourse, which has degenerated largely into opposing howls and growls.

Ba'al Chatzaf

Edited December 24, 2010 by BaalChatzaf

[RagJohn]

that's what happens when overpopulation crowds out the ability to live/be educated properly. Everyone becomes so stressed about "making a living" and defending his freedom and possessions that high-level thinking goes by the board. I believe that I've read that Aristotle said that it was necessary to have slaves, so that the slaveowners could have the free time to think at the levels befitting a proper human life.