Program

NYS Historic

Subject

Event, People, Site

Location

33 Pine St, Lockport, NY, USA

Lat/Long

43.1693642, -78.6925656

Grant Recipient

County of Niagara, NY

From late 1866 to 1867, African American social reformer, abolitionist, and orator Frederick Douglass traveled the country delivering his approximately two-hour long speech, “Sources of Danger to the Republic.” In June 1867, Douglass delivered the speech at Arcade Hall in the village of Lockport in Niagara County, NY.

At the time, the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which would confer citizenship and equal legal and civil rights for newly freed African Americans after the Civil War, had been passed by Congress and had moved on to the states for ratification. In order for the amendment to become valid, it needed to be ratified by three-fourths of the states. By Douglass’s June 1867 Lockport speech, New York State had ratified the amendment. The Lockport Daily Journal reported on the well-attended lecture at Arcade Hall, stating:

“His subject was, ‘Sources of Danger to the Republic,’ and if he did not strictly confine himself to the subject, he gave those present to understand exactly where he considered the danger to the future of our country lay, and what changes he would like to have made in our plan of government. He began by saying that he had usually appeared in Lockport and elsewhere as a slave – sometimes as the advocate of the fugitive, but upon the present occasion he came in the character of an American citizen, and as his first contribution in return for the magnanimity of the American people extending to him this privilege, he would exercise the right of a citizen in criticizing our Government.”

In the speech, Douglass was critical of the constitutional powers granted to the executive branch of the United States government. The Lockport Daily Journal, paraphrasing Douglass, stated:

“What the American people wanted, he said, was not the privilege of choosing another President, but the right and the power to be their own masters – to govern this country as they desire – not be governed by one man.”

The article concluded that Douglass:

“… reminded them that there would be no safety for the nation until black and white, side by side, walk to the ballot box, and deposit their votes.”