Fredrick Douglass Was Not Your Modern Day Black Republican - Black History



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Fredrick Douglass was born a slave, educated himself, freed himself and went on to become one of the greatest African-American freedom fighters. He used his intellect to outsmart slavers and was a part of the Underground Railroad which worked to help fugitive enslaved Africans escape to the north and freedom.
Fredrick Douglass was also associated with the Abolitionist movement and it was Douglass who had access to President Abraham Lincoln, that put the most pressure on Lincoln to allow former slaves fight in the Civil War and later the emancipation of enslaved Africans and their children.He was not anything like modern day Republicans. He was the searing conscious of America.
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As a young man in school I never heard of Douglass growing up, it wasn't until later on as a young man, on my own, I started researching Fredrick Bailey Douglass life in the 90's.

BTR, you're correct, but Fredrick Douglass didn't free himself. It was the British antislavery groups who raised money so that Frederick could obtain the papers necessary for freedom. Douglass was manumitted after Hugh Auld receives $711.66 in payment. Fredrick Douglass did shelter a lot of slaves fleeing north on the "underground railroad."Fredrick Douglass had sons that could not receive work, but was able. He also hated the fact that black folks couldn't fight in the Civil war, which he strongly believed would better help in their freedom, which lead to Fredrick Douglass becoming a recruiter for the 55th Massachusetts Infantry, the first regiment of African-American soldiers were his sons Lewis and Charles who joined the regiment. Also, his son Frederick Douglass Jr. became an army recruiter. About 180,000 African Americans served in the Civil War on the Union side.

BTR, not only did  Fredrick Douglass work with President Lincoln. President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Douglass to the commission investigating the possibility of annexing the Dominican Republic to the U.S. . Also, Frederick was appointed Marshall of the District of Columbia by President Hayes in 1877. In 1881 President Garfield appointed Douglass Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia. In 1889 President Harrison appointed Frederick Douglass to the post of Minister of Haiti. In 1872 the Equal Rights Party nominated Fredrick Bailey Douglass for vice-president of the United States on a ticket headed by Victoria C. Woodhull.

BTR, What Fredrick Douglass stood for, believed in & fought for was of course different from the Republican party today, of course times are different. You would have to look at the structure of the two parties to fully understand. The Jacksonian Democrats advocated personal liberty and local rule, emphasized the freedom of the individual to follow his own interests, and appealed primarily to the common man. The Jeffersonian Republicans was the political party of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison that supported a weak central government, more power vested in the states, and a society and economy based on independent farmers.

Democrats, and most moderate Republicans felt that the war’s primary purpose was to preserve the Union from division. Radical Republicans and abolitionists, on the other hand, felt the entire purpose of the war should be to permanently abolish slavery from the nation. As casualties mounted in the first year of the war, public opinion began to sway toward the side of abolitionism, and on September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued the historic Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in Confederate-held territories forever free as of January 1, 1863. Black folks falsely believed they were free. The proclamation freed only a few slaves, Union forces did not have access to the slaves in Confederate territories. Whatever rights and privileges African-Americans had gained during this brief period were quickly taken away. Democrats and Republicans in Congress, allowed Rutherford B. Hayes to take office as president in exchange for the removal of Union forces from the South, effectively ended the Reconstruction era.

I'm going to go off subject here: I personally feel a lot of black folks make a big mistake leaving out banking when researching & discussing slavery, the Reconstruction era, the Abolitionist movement & the Civil Rights movements. Black organizations have fought corporations like JP Morgan, Wachovia Corporations & many other corporations & institutions that made personal gains by using slaves as collateral in banking dealings with slave owners. Rothschild, organized the loan that funded the UK government’s bail-out of British slave owners when colonial slavery was abolished in the 1830s. It was the biggest bail-out of an industry as a percentage of annual government expenditure. Close business relationship had developed between the cotton growing aristocracy in the South and the cotton manufacturers in England. Cotton growing was America's Achilles Heel, who did 100% of that labor for free?

Understanding the monetary institution is very, very crucial to understanding why our lives are the way they are. Negroes, mulattoes and Indian was held to be real estate."

Note: JP Morgan, Wachovia Corporations, Rothschild & many other corporations & institutions that made personal gains by using slaves as collateral in banking have recognized their wrong & each have donated millions to help black folks.

Yours truly,
Anthony Smith

Great post Anthony. Yes, I covered some of the things you brought up. However, Douglass did escape on his own, well with the help of a free Black sailor who gave him his papers. He then caught a train up north and was then sheltered and help by those you mention. So great to hear a young man who cares about our history. Peace & Blessings to you.

Peace & Blessings to you as well BTR.

It's also a pleasure to hear from someone that respect their history. The slavery disclosure bill is a very good source of tracking how many banking families and     corporations benefited from the slave trade & slave labor of Africans.You can track Chase Manhattan Bank. Using the online New York State Banking History Database. Two of JP Morgan Chase’s earlier banks, The Merchant’s Bank of New York, and The Leather Manufacturers Bank of New York were a slave policy circular. They are listed as the exclusive bankers for a $2.5 million venture in writing slave life insurance policies in 1852. This amount of money is substantial for that time.

Many insurance companies practiced the writing of slave life insurance policies in 19th Century United States. The effect of this practice was to provide the financial backing necessary to give potential slave owners motivation to purchase human chattel  a very expensive investment. The policies gave slave owners the security necessary to employ enslaved Africans in ultra-hazardous capacities. In exchange for this security, insurers required medical inspections to be sure that they could profit from writing policies. Further, they never insured an African for full value. The circular indicates that JP Morgan’s early bank helped cover "three-fourths the actual cash value" of the enslaved African. The circular, listing fifty-five businessmen and their institutions, is submitted to the record. The Lehman Brothers was forced to disclose its connection to slavery, or forgo a $145 million contract with the City. Also, the shipping route of the slave trade largely formed the banking industry in England. Edward Lloyd's insuring ships and cargo, Lloyd's was also linked to the slave trade through its staff illustrative of a widespread trend of slave trade merchants who had once offered private insurance on a smaller scale becoming involved in the new functions of banking.

Bankers in port cities such as Manchester, Bristol, and Liverpool also benefited from the slave trade. William Miles chaired a committee to oppose abolition in 1789 in Bristol; six of the city's bankers served as members. Ten well‐known slave merchants played a role in founding ten of Liverpool's fourteen major banks listed after 1750.

I know folks that know their history, but think slavery was a tragic part of history & don't see how it affects their lives today. Some of these folks are over achieving folks with a lot of degrees that lived around white folks for a large part of their life, the other half are folks living middle class or just below middle class enough to think they're middle class. Some are white folks, Asian folks & Indian folks. "We have a black President in the White House," they would say. A lot of those folks believe that slavery & racism is a thing of the past. They see themselves as individuals. We don't have the Civil Rights movement or slavery that bounded us together.

The new generation see black success & think racism & slavery is a thing of the past & black folks who raise a discussion about racism are blaming white folks for their problems.

I wonder, how many black folks felt racism was a thing of the past when the United States abolished slavery in 1865? How many black folsk felt slavery & racism was a thing of the past in 1866 when the first Civil Rights bill made it illegal in the U.S. to discriminate in jobs and housing on the basis of race? Black folks like Edward Alexander Bouchet received his Ph.D. in physics in 1876 from Yale. Did he feel Africans needed to stop blaming white folks for their problems? Or did Dr. Daniel Hale Williams who received his M.D. in 1883 & founded the Provident Hospital in Chicago in 1891 feel he was an individual & Africans should stop blaming other people for their problems?

I don't blame all white folks for my problems. I'm not racist. I understand, & I'm sure a lot of white folks understand that the BLUEPRINT for SOCIAL RACIAL CONTROL  IS NOT DEAD & the structure of racism is not a thing of the past. Not when black unemployment is holding at double digits & black-owned businesses capital was  cut off. Also, a study found that some banks decreased lending to black-owned businesses by over 80%. And that's not just loans to get businesses off the ground, but also the financing needed by black businesses to continue operating and make payroll. The racial and economic disparities in the home mortgage market is not a thing of the past either. Almost all of these have been done in large urban areas, many of which have long histories of racial conflict and discrimination. Put that with the fact that most States spend more on prisons than education. Programs in the  inner cities & public schools are going to be cut first after States start making their new budget cuts. 

I hear a lot of black folks, mainly black women,  say it's not about racism, but more about the haves & the have nots, let's look at the past haves & have nots.

The expansion of overseas trade, especially in the Atlantic, relied on credit, and bills of credit, which were at the heart of the slave trade. There were no banks in the City until the mid-17th century, and even a century later, banking was under-developed outside London. But slave traders and planters badly needed credit. Provincial banking emerged in the 18th century because of the need for credit in the long-distance Atlantic slave trade. For example, Liverpool merchants involved in slave trading later formed Heywoods Bank, which eventually became part of Barclays Bank. Other modern banking names, such as Lloyds, emerged in this way and inevitably had links to the Atlantic slave trade. The Bank of England was also involved. When it was set up in 1694, it underpinned the whole system of commercial credit, and its wealthy City members, from the governor down, were often men whose fortunes had been made wholly or partly in the slave trade.

Prominent New York mercantile and banking families and corporations such as Citicorp which first made its name in the slave trade. The world's first stock exchange opened in New York in 1792 and half of its 177 stockholders owned slaves. Africans were auctioned to bidders at Wall Street and other city markets. Forced labor made the Empire State.

Bankers in port cities such as Manchester, Bristol, and Liverpool also benefited from the slave trade. William Miles chaired a committee to oppose abolition in 1789 in Bristol; six of the city's bankers served as members. Ten well‐known slave merchants played a role in founding ten of Liverpool's fourteen major banks listed after 1750.

Like I said, I'm not racist. I do not sit around bashing white folks. A lot of white folks that are Democrats, Independents & Republicans hate racism as much as I do. Over the course of 6 to 7 years I know who to blame for my problems in my life. I blame myself, & I also blame a Grand Imperial Wizard, Scottish Rite Mason that work for the State or Justice Department who think the prison institution is the closes thing to the Willie Lynch full proof method for controlling slaves. Also, I blame a relative for bringing this racist klansman into my life. My relative  became a paid federal informant &, along with others, started interfering with my life indirectly. For years people have been posting about this situation on many websites. Click here if you're interested> http://whosarat.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=5087937

And also here>http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=18130&post=129502&u...

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=14326&post=58094&ui...


In 1972 Willie Lynch had a full proof method for controlling slaves.Guarantees every slave owner that, if installed correctly, IT WILL CONTROL THE SLAVES FOR AT LEAST 300 HUNDREDS YEARS. A psychological blue print.
If you want to read Willie Lynch Letter click here>http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/Perspectives_1/Willie_Lynch...

 

Yours truly,

Anthony Smith

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