Jonathan W. White, the author of "Measuring the Man: The Writings of Frederick Douglass on Abraham Lincoln," takes listeners on a captivating journey through Frederick Douglass's evolving relationship with Abraham Lincoln. White discusses Douglass’s transformation from critic to ally, highlighting powerful insights gained from newly discovered writings. The podcast examines Douglass’s complex views on the Constitution, his advocacy for Black soldiers, and surprising feelings towards Lincoln and Andrew Johnson’s leadership. It's a compelling exploration of friendship, strategy, and the fight for equality.
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insights INSIGHT
Abolition As Founders' Promise
Frederick Douglass reframed abolition as the fulfillment of the Founders' promise, not a radical break from it.
He shifted from condemning the Constitution to arguing it could be read as an antislavery document.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Escape, Exile, And British Support
Douglass escaped slavery in 1838 and built a career as a powerful orator and writer in the North and Britain.
His time in Britain produced lifelong supporters like Julia Griffiths who helped sustain his newspaper and work.
insights INSIGHT
Rhetoric That Marries Praise And Condemnation
Douglass's 1852 July speech praised the Founders then vividly exposed slavery's horrors to demand America live up to its ideals.
He used the Declaration and Constitution as moral leverage to press for immediate equality.
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Frederick Douglass made the strongest arguments for abolition in antebellum America because he made the case that abolition was not a mutation of the Founding Father’s vision of America, but a fulfillment of their promises of liberty for all. He had a lot riding on this personally – Douglas was born into slavery in Maryland around 1818, escaped to the North in 1838, and became a renowned public speaker in Europe and the United States, captivating audiences with his powerful oratory and firsthand accounts of enslavement. Initially, in the 1840s, Douglass denounced the United States as a hypocritical nation that failed to uphold its ideals of liberty due to its support of slavery. He was part of the same radical abolitionist faction as William Lloyd Garrison, who publicly burned a copy of the U.S. Constitution in 1854 a Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society event, calling it “a covenant with death” and “an agreement with hell” due to its protections for slavery.
But by the 1850s, Douglas’s views evolved to see the Constitution as an antislavery document that could be leveraged to fulfill the promise of freedom for all. His transformation reflected a strategic shift, advocating for reform within the system while maintaining his fierce commitment to abolishing slavery and securing equal rights. He was also a critic of Abraham Lincoln who later became friends with the president. Douglass disagreed with Abraham Lincoln's initial hesitancy to prioritize abolition and his gradual approach to emancipation, but agreed with Lincoln's eventual commitment to the Emancipation Proclamation and the use of Black soldiers in the Civil War, seeing these as critical steps toward ending slavery and aligning with the Constitution's promise of liberty.
In “Measuring the Man: The Writings of Frederick Douglass on Abraham Lincoln,” Jonathan W. White, today’s guest, assembled Frederick Douglass’s most meaningful and poignant statements about Abraham Lincoln, including a dozen newly discovered documents that have not been seen for 160 years. We see the anger Douglass directed at Lincoln throughout much of the Civil War as he moved slowly, but methodically, toward emancipation. Douglass’s writings also reveal how three personal interactions between these two led to powerful feelings of friendship and mutual admiration. After Lincoln’s assassination—as Jim Crow laws spread across the South—Douglass expressed greater appreciation for Lincoln’s statesmanship during the Civil War and praised him as a model for postwar America.
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