On November 19, 1868 Frederick Douglass addressed the New England Women’s Rights Convention in Boston. Douglass had attended the the 1848 Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls and had advocated women’s suffrage ever since.
At the 1868 Boston convention, led by Lucy Stone and Julia Ward Howe, a call had been made by Stone for the Republican Party to end its slogan of Universal Male Suffrage and replace it with Universal Suffrage. While there is no doubt Douglass supported women getting the right to vote, the country was only two months away from the introduction of the 15th Amendment and he was afraid that Black voting rights would be stalled over a discussion of voting rights for women.
I offer some accounts of Douglass at the November 1868 Women’s Convention. Feel free to discuss the more general issue of splitting the issue of the women’s vote from that of the Black vote.
New York Tribune
Saturday, Nov 21, 1868
New York, NY
Vol: XXVIII
Issue: 8618
Page: 5
The New York World was a leading conservative Democratic newspaper associated with the arch-opponent of Black suffrage Fernando Wood. It transcribed Douglass’s speech, after mocking the convention:
World
Saturday, Nov 21, 1868
New York, NY
Page: 4
I am often told that human rights is a moden construct, but Douglass referenced human rights in this speech 151 years ago.
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