Frederick Douglass

They could not of course sell them, but they retained the power to starve them to death, and wherever this power is held, there is the power of slavery.

They did not deprive the old master class of the power of life and death which was the soul of the relation of master and slave.

They gave them the uniform of soldiers, but no arms; they called them citizens, and left them subjects; they called them free, and almost left them slaves.

They gave freedmen the machinery of liberty, but denied them the steam to put it in motion.

In the hurry and confusion of the hour, and the eager desire to have the Union restored, there was more care for sublime superstructure of the republic than for the solid foundation upon which it could alone be upheld.

Wise, grand, and comprehensive in scope and design, as were the reconstruction measures, high and honorable as were the intentions of the statesmen by whom they were framed and adopted, time and experience, which try all things, have…

They left the former slave completely in the power of the old master, the loyal citizen in the hands of the disloyal rebel against the government.

The old master class is to-day triumphant, and the newly enfranchised class in a condition but little above that in which they were found before the rebellion.

The citizenship granted in the fourteenth amendment is practically a mockery, and the right to vote, provided for in the fifteenth amendment, is literally stamped out in face of government.

The rights which they were intended to guarantee are denied and held in contempt.

But to-day, in most of the Southern States, the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments are virtually nullified.

It is a great principle, up to which we may educate the people, and to this extent its value exceeds all speech.