NYTimes Charles Blow Opinion

[David Lockmiller]

Charles Blow Opinion: "Using Frederick Douglass to Rationalize Slavery? In Florida, Yes!" New York Times, August 16, 2023

In the video, the cartoon Douglass says that the year is 1852. But just two years before, the Compromise of 1850, which included a beefed-up fugitive slave law that even punished people who participated in the Underground Railroad, was passed. Douglass detested this “compromise.”

Eight years later, in 1861, after Abraham Lincoln defended the Fugitive Slave Act as an attempt to assuage Southern slavers, Douglass called him an “excellent slave hound” and the “most dangerous advocate of slave-hunting and slave-catching in the land.”


But let us be fair to history and Abraham Lincoln.

As a private citizen and lawyer, Abraham Lincoln openly stated his disagreement with the Supreme Court Dred Scott opinion.

[Not mentioned by Charles Blow.]

"Eight years later, in 1861," Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, was required to enforce the laws passed by Congress, including the Fugitive Slave Act.

The oath of office reads: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

This oath means enforcement of the laws passed by Congress.

[Not mentioned by Charles Blow.]

It was President Abraham Lincoln who issued the Emancipation Proclamation (effective January 1, 1863) and successfully sought passage of the Thirteenth Amendment legislation (the King's cure) in early 1865 that ended slavery in the United States forever.

[Not mentioned by Charles Blow.]