I Am a Republican: An Address Delivered in Rochester, New York, on November 4, 1870
278 ROCHESTER, NEW YORK
I AM A REPUBLICAN: AN ADDRESS DELIVERED IN
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ON 4 NOVEMBER 1870
New National Era, 10 November 1870. Another text in Rochester Democrat and Re-
publican, 5 November 1870.
Accompanied by his sons Lewis and Charles, Douglass returned to Rochester
to vote the Republican ticket in the election of 4 November 1870. While there
he dutifully acceded to a request from the Republican Central Committee of
Monroe County to speak at a party rally on the evening of the election. The
Rochester Democrat and American, reporting the homecoming of the Wash-
ington editor and eminent native son, accurately predicted an enthusiastic
response “when, for the first time in this State, he, as the representative of his
race, can stand before an audience of political equals.” Hundreds had to be
turned away as a capacity crowd, including many women and residents of
nearby towns, packed City Hall. William Dorsheimer, U.S. district attorney
of Rochester, delivered the opening remarks, followed by Douglass. At the
conclusion of his speech Douglass called for, and received, three cheers for
the state and congressional candidates of the Republican party. The appre-
ciative audience then bestowed three cheers upon the evening’s two orators
before adjourning. Rochester Democrat and American, 2, 3, 4 November
1870.
FELLOW CITIZENS OF ROCHESTER: I came here not to make a speech but to
listen to a speech—an able, clear, forcible and eloquent vindication of the
present administration of our Government. One such speech ought to be
sufficient, and but that I had consented to the use of my name, I should not
have responded to your call. I have credit for considerable assurance—my
Democratic friends call it impudence. (Laughter.) But I have concluded
that my friends have been mistaken—that I have been mistaken in my-
self—for I find that it is with the greatest reluctance that I come forward to
address an audience of my fellow citizens. In listening to other speeches I
feel that they are more able and convincing than anything I can say. I have,
however, no hesitation in saying that I am a Republican. (Laughter.) And I
suppose it is partly for this that I am called to address you. I am called here
to give color to the occasion, and to prevent the whole thing from having
the appearance of being “faded out.” (Renewed laughter.)
I have traveled four hundred miles—not to make a speech, but to vote.
I have brought with me two young men bearing my name, and even blacker
than I am, and we intend to all vote the Republican ticket.1Accompanying Douglass to Rochester “for the purpose of voting the Republican ticket on election day" were his sons Lewis and Charles. The third son of Frederick and Anna Murray Douglass, Charles Remond Douglass (1844-1920) was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, and named for his father’s friend and Garrisonian colleague, Charles Lenox Remond. While a schoolboy in Rochester, New York. he delivered copies of his father's newspapers to subscribers. In February 1863 he enlisted in the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Infantry and eventually attained the rank of first sergeant in the Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry. After the war he became one of the first black clerks employed by the U.S. government, serving first in the Freedmen's Bureau and later in the Treasury Department. A clerk with the Santo Domingo Commission in 1871, he returned to the Caribbean when President Grant appointed him consul of Pureto Plata, Santo Domingo. He returned to the United States in 1878 and settled in Corona, New York, where he entered the West Indian commission business. He later returned to Washington to take the position of examiner in the Pension Bureau. Rochester Democrat and American, 5 November 1870; Gregory, Frederick Douglass, 203-06. (Applause.) I
want the Republican ticket to succeed this fall. I wish it success for all the
reasons mentioned here to-night. The policy and condition of the country
for the next six years will be largely determined by the vote this fall. The
42d Congress, which we are now electing, will not only count the votes of
the next Presidential election, but its election will determine what the result
of that election will be. We are asked to give our votes to the Democratic
party. Particularly are colored people, who have never voted before, asked
to vote. Democrats tell us that whatever Republicans have done for the
colored man has not been done sincerely—that emancipation was a war
measure and was forced on the country. Democrats tell colored men that
they have been their only friends. (Laughter.) To be sure, the Democratic
party was the supporter and apologist of slavery; but was not that “the
normal condition” of the colored man, and can any one object to keeping
him in his natural place? Spite of all its ugly record, the Democratic party
claims to be the friend of the colored man. It is true that even now the
Democratic party aims to undo all that has been done for colored men’s
rights, and will make the laws for his emancipation and enfranchisement a
dead letter wherever it has power. Still the Democratic party is, we are told,
the friend of the colored man. (Renewed laughter.) They say that if the
colored man wants any money let him come to us. We are always “at
home” to such a call, and ready to supply him. Why, since I have come to
Rochester I have heard that the colored men were stampeding to the Demo-
cratic party, and going so overwhelmingly that Republicans in despair had
sent for the negro Douglass to stand in the gap and prevent the stampede. I
find here just one colored man who has succeeded in making his escape to
the Democratic party. (Laughter.) This is a man (Charles Taylor) who has
been used to running away and making his escape. He did so once when he
enlisted as a soldier in the Union army.2The Rochester City Directory lists two Charles Taylors in 1870. Charles H. Taylor, originally from Brooklyn, New York, was a student at the University of Rochester from 1866 to 1870. Charles F. Taylor is listed as a janitor and appears only in the 1870 City Directory. He not only “cut stick” and run,
but he cut his thumb. (Renewed laughter.) That man is the only colored
vote that can be relied on for the Democratic party in Rochester. (Ap-
plause.)
I am for the Republican party because I would be honest. I would have
this nation pay its debt—not only to its creditors, but the pensions to its
disabled soldiers. I am for the Republican party because this government,
great always, was never greater than it has been during the late years of
Republican administration. The greatness of this government has been
enhanced by the Republican administration. If our flag is loved at home
and honored abroad, it is because of the efforts of the Republican party to
make it honorable. It is for the character which this party has given it.
Where would our flag have been if entrusted to the keeping of the men who
represent the Democratic party? Talk of dead issues! The Republican party
will have living issues with the Democratic party until the last rebel is dead
and buried—until the last nail of the last coffin of the last rebel is driven.
Nothing has shown the undying hatred of the rebels against the Union more
clearly than the rebel mourning over the death of Robert E. Lee.3Robert E. Lee died on 12 October 1870. Although buried in a relatively simple ceremony in Lexington, Virginia, Lee's passing was observed throughout the South by school closings, business suspensions, legislative adjournments, and public commemorative services. The region’s press published many editorial lamentations. Jefferson Davis and many other leading ex-Confederates gathered at a widely publicized memorial meeting in Richmond, Virginia, where Lee’s patriotic as well as military virtues were extolled. Fitzhugh Lee, General Lee (New York, 1894), 412-19; Thomas L.
Connelly, The Marble Man: Robert E. Lee and His Image in American Society (New York, 1977), 11-12, 31-33. The
transfer of power from the Republican to the Democratic party would be
the signal for an attempt all over the South to undo all that has been done
and reduce the negro to a condition as near his former servitude as possible.
One of the things supposed to be accomplished by the war was to make us a
homogenous people—to give every citizen the right to travel in any State.
How is it in Southern States, where Democrats are in power? A Northern
man is not safe in North Carolina or some portions of Tennessee. By a
continuance of Republican power we shall have peace and good feeling in
the South and throughout the country. Democratic success means con-
tinued strife and social disorder. Because I wish to see this great nation
grow greater, more glorious and free, I shall vote as I wish you all to vote—
for the whole Republican ticket. Vote for every man named. Vote for the
long term and vote for the short term. Especially vote for the long term.
(Applause.)