On the recordJanuary 1, 1881
We kissed the hand that smote us, and spurned the hand that helped us.
Said by
Frederick Douglass
Source
gutenberg.orgFrederick Douglass: “We kissed the hand that smote us, and spurned the hand that helped us.”
Editor's note · Context
From his autobiography, lamenting the Union's misguided policy during the Civil War that alienated potential allies and appeased enemies.
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To-day the negro, starting from nothing, pays taxes upon six millions in Georgia, and forty millions in Louisiana.
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Nothing but the shot-gun or the bull-dozer’s whip can keep them from voting their convictions.