Can any colored man, or any white man friendly to the freedom of all men, ever forget the night which followed the first day of January, 1863, when the world was to see if Abraham Lincoln would prove to be as good as his word?
From a speech reflecting on Abraham Lincoln, this rhetorical question highlights the anticipation and significance of the Emancipation Proclamation.
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More from Frederick Douglass
Knowledge unfits a child to be a slave.” I instinctively assented to the proposition, and from that moment I understood the direct pathway from slavery to freedom.
Treason had shot its poisonous roots deeper, and had spread its death-dealing branches further than any northern calculation had covered.
Our very lack of preparation for the conflict disposed us to look for some other than the way of blood out of the difficulty.