V.

Political Abolitionist

Until he returned from Britain in 1847, Douglass had supported the views of Garrison, who favored ending slavery through 'moral suasion,' or the force of moral opinion. Garrison also opposed any political action that indicated acceptance of the Constitution of the United States, which he and his followers considered an immoral, proslavery document. In Britain and later in Rochester, however, Douglass met political abolitionists, who believed that it was possible to use the political system to fight slavery. They organized the antislavery Liberty Party, and called for the election of abolitionists to public office. Garrison believed the North should secede, if necessary, to free itself from the moral stain of slavery. In contrast, Douglass became convinced that this course of action would only abandon slaves to their masters. Garrison denounced Douglass as a traitor to the cause, and the two men, once firm friends, drifted apart.

From 1848 through the 1850s, Douglass worked closely with the Liberty Party. This group of abolitionists had broken off from the American Anti-Slavery Society and demanded the total destruction of slavery. But on occasion, Douglass also backed the larger Free-Soil and Republican parties, which pledged only to prevent the extension of slavery to new territories and states.

Douglass also rejected Garrison's philosophy that slaves must not actively resist their oppression. Douglass believed in the right of slaves to rebel and the right of fugitives to resist reenslavement. His house in Rochester was a station on the Underground Railroad, a network of antislavery activists who helped smuggle slaves from the South. He joined other abolitionists in helping many of these runaway slaves to reach safety in Canada.

Douglass became a friend of American abolitionist John Brown, who supported the use of armed force to help slaves escape. Douglass, however, refused to join Brown in an attack planned on the federal arsenal and armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in 1859. He warned Brown that seizing the armory would be considered an attack on the U.S. government and could prove disastrous. After Brown was captured in the raid, Douglass faced charges that he was an accomplice and fled the country to avoid possible arrest for treason. He came back to the United States about six months later, after furor over the incident had died down.

On his return, Douglass campaigned for Abraham Lincoln during the presidential election of 1860. After the outbreak of the Civil War, he urged Lincoln to expand his war aims beyond the stated goal of preserving the Union. Douglass argued that slavery was the true cause of the conflict and that the Union should make the abolition of slavery its primary focus. Douglass also called for the Union Army to recruit slaves and free blacks, and he helped to raise two regiments of black soldiers, the Massachusetts 54th and 55th. His own sons, Frederick and Lewis, were among the first volunteers for these all-black regiments. By the end of the war slightly over 200,000 blacks had served in the U.S. Army and Navy. See also African American History.