Every day brings fresh and increasing evidence that we are, and of right ought to be, a nation; that Confederate notions of the nature and powers of our government ought to have perished in the rebellion which they supported; that they are anachronisms and superstitions and no longer fit to be above ground....
From his autobiography, asserting the enduring unity of the nation and condemning Confederate political ideologies, on national identity and the legacy of rebellion.
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More from Frederick Douglass
Still another ground of hope I find in the fact that colored men are strong in their gratitude to benefactors, and firm in their political convictions.
To-day the negro, starting from nothing, pays taxes upon six millions in Georgia, and forty millions in Louisiana.
The nation or people which shall comply with them will rise, and those which violate them will fall, and perhaps will disappear altogether.