We (the people of the North) are a charitable people, and in the excess of this feeling we were disposed to put the very best construction upon the strange behavior of our southern brethren.
Douglass explains the Northern states' initial charitable interpretation of the Southern states' secessionist actions, attributing it to their inherent benevolence.
Share
More from Frederick Douglass
To-day the negro, starting from nothing, pays taxes upon six millions in Georgia, and forty millions in Louisiana.
They cannot be coaxed or driven to vote with their enemies against their friends.
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.
None now denies the ability of the colored race to acquire knowledge of anything which can be communicated to the human understanding by letters.