Free Republic

The Framers structured the Constitution to lead the new Republic to the ultimate end of slavery but were unable to set a time frame for its abolition. The story comes to us from James Madison’s classic Notes of the Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787.The discussion on slavery at the Federal Convention in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 centered on two issues: 1. how to count the slaves in the apportionment of members in the popularly elected House of Representatives and; 2) setting an end date for the slave trade.Three distinct groups clashed on the assignment of House...

While Frederick Douglass is obviously not a Founding Father, his life embodied our nation’s highest ideals, and his speeches were delivered to promote these values. And on this day — the day we commemorate the inception of our nation with the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 — Douglass is one man that deserves to be associated with the Fourth of July.From Slave to Honored OratorBorn a slave in 1818 in Maryland with the given name Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, Douglass was a strong-willed and intelligent man who, in spite of the laws at the time, learned to...

“The Constitution is a GLORIOUS LIBERTY DOCUMENT.” These words were delivered by a former slave. The all-caps emphasis was his. In an 1852 speech entitled What to the Slave is the Fourth of July the inimitable Frederick Douglass called out the evil of slavery while praising an undeniable instrument of liberation: the U.S. Constitution.If you visit the National Museum of African-American History and Culture’s (NMAAHC) online exhibit of Douglass’ Fourth of July speech, you won’t see or hear any mention of the Constitution. It’s not the first or last time that the Smithsonian will suppress history. Remember, NMAAHC is the...

Frederick Douglass defends the Constitution. Many abolitionists in his day had misguided views about the Founding Fathers and the Constitution. Douglass was ready to set them straight.

"One and God make a majority." "Without a struggle, there can be no progress." "The soul that is within me no man can degrade." "Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitude." "Slaves are generally expected to sing as well as to work." "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." "The thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion." "At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed." "Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will." "A gentleman will not insult me, and no...

How amusing it is to see the advocates of critical race theory (CRT) and the 1619 Project vehemently deny that their philosophy is even being taught in elementary and secondary schools. Most recently, teachers’ union president Randi Weingarten insisted that CRT is merely a subject of discussion in law schools and the legal community, not in the public school system. Hogwash! Parents wouldn’t be mobilizing against CRT if they didn’t witness its divisive propaganda being dumped on their children. Ironically, we have the COVID lockdowns to thank for this. Ordinarily, parents aren’t exposed to what their children are being...

Joel Fishbein stepped down Monday as head of Philadelphia area school board Fishbein gave a graduation speech at Cheltenham High School on June 3 He told majority-black students a story about abolitionist Frederick Douglass Fishbein said Douglass had a 'pretty good position' relative to other black slaves He also said that his escape to freedom in 1838 was 'ridiculously easy' Fishbein quoted a blog post by a historian, Professor Heather Cox Richardson Comments prompted calls by local black activists for Fishbein to be replaced Fishbein released a statement on Monday apologizing for 'diminishing' slavery School district posted disclaimer on YouTube...

Preferred title: Should the British Government be dissolved because Queen Elizabeth authorized Sir John Hawkins to import Africans into the West Indies? (title too long) Frederick Douglass is amazing. If you consider yourself a constitutionalist and you aren't reading Douglass you are missing out on true greatness. In 1860, Frederick Douglass tore fellow abolitionists to shreds over the slave trade saying: (source) Mr. Thompson is just 52 years too late in dissolving the Union on account of this clause. He might as well dissolve the British Government, because Queen Elizabeth granted to Sir John Hawkins to import Africans into the...

In Douglass’s abiding vision, America was the proper home for black Americans, their only realistic alternative, and also the locus of their highest ideals.Mark Twain copied a friend’s remark into his notebook: “I am not an American; I am the American.” To be the American, the exemplary or representative American, is a claim very few Americans could plausibly make. Twain could. Benjamin Franklin could and did. Abraham Lincoln could but didn’t, although admirers made the claim for him. Surely some number of others could, too. But among all Americans past or present, no one could make such a claim more...

In his life and times Frederick Douglass was known around the world as an orator, abolitionist, suffragist, and reformist. While living in Washington, DC, where he spent the last quarter-century of his life, he was also known to many as an admirer of William Shakespeare. Today, tens of thousands of people visit the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site each year at Cedar Hill, Douglass’s home in Anacostia, where the library shelves hold volumes of Shakespeare’s complete works and a framed print of Othello and Desdemona hangs above the mantle in the west parlor. Douglass frequently alluded to Shakespeare in his...

While the city of Washington, D.C. has openly promoted tearing down statues of America’s Founding Fathers, Hillsdale College’s Liberty Walk stands in distinct contrast. Hillsdale College, a small liberal arts college in southern Michigan, hosts an increasing array of original statues honoring men and women who have stood courageously for freedom.Walking Hillsdale College’s Liberty Walk, one sees statues erected to founders such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson as well as others who have fought for liberty and equality such as Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Ronald Reagan, and Winston Churchill. Hillsdale also has the only statue in North America of...

A George Washington University professor admitted in a Thursday blog post that she has for years been falsely claiming to be Black, when she is in fact White and Jewish. Jessica A. Krug, who teaches Black history at GWU, made the startling admission in a blog post on Medium titled, “The Truth, and the Anti-Black Violence of My Lies.” “To an escalating degree over my adult life, I have eschewed my lived experience as a white Jewish child in suburban Kansas City under various assumed identities within a Blackness that I had no right to claim: first North African Blackness,...

George Washington University is looking into a confession by a professor of Africana studies and history that she has been pretending to be Black. Jessica Krug admits she was born a white, Jewish girl from Kansas City, not the Black Latina from the inner city she claimed to be in her books. Krug, whose work has been up for prestigious Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass book prizes, is now calling herself a culture “leech.” Critics say the author and associate professor made the admission not to clear her conscience but because she was found out. In a blog post, Krug...

Black Lives Matter activists cite Douglass’s 1852 speech ‘What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?’ as proof America is evil. They utterly miss his point. Last week on CNN, as contributor Angela Rye accused White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnaney and President Trump of failing to understand the history of black America, she referred to the legendary Frederick Douglass. “Frederick Douglass said about Independence Day in this country, what to the slave is the Fourth of July?” she said. “And I would invite them to even start there, as a reading principle, to see how different we see...

Over the past month, statues and depictions of prior presidents, Christopher Columbus, and even religious homages have been subjected to forms of vandalism by many unhinged “activists”. So, it is with little surprise that the latest casualty of the attacks on statues was none other than that of famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass in Maplewood Park. According to Rochester Police, the tearing down of the statue of Douglass took place during the Fourth of July weekend. Police stated that the depiction of Douglass was removed from the base where it was erected, and was found approximately 50 feet from its original...

Frederick Douglass spent the entirety of his adult life fighting tirelessly for black people and women to be recognized as full United States citizens. Douglass, a famous black abolitionist in the 1800s, used Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence as the foundation of his argument to end slavery. That’s why it struck me as ill-informed that Colin Kaepernick would use Douglass’ What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July speech as the audio backdrop for his incendiary tweet condemning America’s Independence Day. Kap, aka Mute-hammad Ali, tweeted Saturday morning: “Black people have been dehumanized, brutalized, criminalized and terrorized by America...

Protests over the horrific police killing of George Floyd infamously devolved into riots and looting that destroyed black lives, black livelihoods, and even black monuments. The iconoclastic vandals who began by toppling Confederate monuments moved on to defacing statues of America’s Founders, Indian nationalists like Mahatma Gandhi, and even a monument to the 54th Massachusetts regiment, the first black volunteers to fight for the Union in the Civil War. Yet one of the most grotesque acts of vandalism came on Sunday when vandals toppled a statue of former slave Frederick Douglass in Rochester, N.Y. Vandals somehow removed the Douglass statue...

Police are investigating an act of vandalism, after a statue of Frederick Douglass was removed from its base at Maplewood Park during the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Leaders from Re-energize the legacy of Frederick Douglass are shocked a monument they worked so hard on will have to be replaced. “This is all that is left at this particularly moment of a monument that we put so much work and thought and love and care into,” said Carvin Eison, Project director, re-energize the legacy of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass Bicentennial Commemoration.

Another testament to the public education system in America, idiots tore down a statue of Frederick Douglass, the fierce abolitionist. A statue of the former slave in Rochester, New York, was reportedly torn down and removed sometime over the Fourth of July weekend.  A Frederick Douglas statue in Maplewood Park was removed from its base overnight. pic.twitter.com/J43hqxuHTT— Atyia Collins (@Atyia_Collins) July 5, 2020 The base of a Frederick Douglass statue torn down overnight here in Maplewood Park. Bits of the statue scattered around the area. @News_8 pic.twitter.com/L6qgV7bVH2— Ben Densieski (@BenDensieski) July 5, 2020 After escaping slavery, Douglass became a leader...

A statue of abolitionist legend Frederick Douglass was torn down overnight over the Fourth of July holiday in Rochester, New York, local media reported.https://twitter.com/FOX2now/status/1279887379529113601WXXI News reported: Rochester Police are investigating damage done to a statue of Frederick Douglass in Maplewood Park. It happened over the weekend, and police say that the statue was torn off its base, and left about 50 feet from its pedestal. The statue had been placed over the fence to Genesee River gorge and was leaning against the fence.…Police say in addition to the damage at the bottom of the statue, one of the fingers on the...