FREDERICK DOUGLASS Selections from his speech on Self Made M

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FREDERICK DOUGLASS. Selections from his speech on "Self-Made Men," as reported in The Liberator. 4 pages, 25 x 18 inches, on one folding sheet; folds, minor wear. Boston, 14 December 1860

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On 3 December 1860, Douglass had attempted to deliver a lecture asking "How Can Slavery Be Abolished?" at a Boston church, but was forced from the stage by an angry mob. Six days later, he succeeded in delivering another speech at the Boston Music Hall, a speech recently described by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression as "possibly the most important defense of free speech in American history."

In this issue of the Liberator, nearly a full column is dedicated to the closing portion of Douglass' speech. In part: "No right was deemed by the fathers of the Government more sacred than the right of speech. It was in their eyes, as in the eyes of all thoughtful men, the great moral renovator of society and government. . . . Slavery cannot tolerate free speech. Five years of its exercise would banish the auction block and break every chain in the South. . . . A man's right to speak does not depend upon where he was born or upon his color. The simple quality of manhood is the solid basis of the right--and there let it rest forever."