Frederick Douglass: First Editorial of the North Star

Impact

The success of Frederick Douglass’s newspaper proved to be long-lasting. The North Star reached a wider audience than earlier black-edited newspapers for several reasons. At the time of its inception in 1847, Douglass had gained a reputation as America’s most famous former slave, both in the United States and abroad. His Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass was published in several editions including editions in England and Ireland. His name attracted many subscribers in both the white and the African American reform community. Between 1846 and 1850, the nation’s attention was drawn into a debate over the extension of slavery. The Mexican-American War (1846–1848) added an additional five hundred thousand square miles to the United States, and many southerners favored the expansion of slavery into the new territories. Abolitionists hotly opposed any new slave states. The North Star began in the midst of this war and was poised to offer a unique black perspective on the Wilmot Proviso, which opposed the extension of slavery in territories obtained from the war. The growing interest in slavery among northerners during the controversy surrounding the Fugitive Slave Act and other parts of the Compromise of 1850 also served to keep readers interested in reading antislavery papers. The Fugitive Slave Act focused the attention of many northerners on slavery for the first time, as the law required more active participation among northerners in the return of fugitive slaves. Douglass benefited from starting his weekly on the cusp of this controversy.

As this first North Star editorial demonstrates, the weekly created a special place for African American abolitionists and civil rights activists to express their own methods and solutions to the problems that faced the black race. Douglass’s increasing involvement in the movement for black elevation was reflected in the pages of the North Star. His editorials calling for suffrage, opposing colonization, and supporting equal rights established Douglass as a leader among African Americans. Quoting his favorite line from Lord Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, “Hereditary bondsmen? know ye not, / Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow?” Douglass urged African Americans to work actively on behalf of their race. Although Douglass has sometimes been criticized for his commitment to assimilation and integration, his editorials began warning against relying on white reformers to advance the cause of African Americans.

Douglass’s editing career started with the North Star’s first issue on December 3, 1847, and stretched longer than that of other African American editors. He continuously edited a newspaper from 1847 until 1863, and during that time his stature grew in the African American community. As slavery moved into the mainstream national debate in the 1850s, Douglass was almost universally recognized as both America’s most famous former slave and its most prominent black abolitionist. Douglass published the North Star until 1851, when his changing political views led him to rename his weekly Frederick Douglass’ Paper. Until 1860, Douglass’s newspaper filled an important role as an organ for the Liberty Party and was a strong advocate for the Free Soil movement and those who sought political means to end slavery. Beginning in January 1859, Douglass began a new monthly publication, Douglass’ Monthly, which freed him from weekly editing tasks but still offered readers his own brand of reform journalism. He continued this publication until the middle of the Civil War in 1863, when he began actively recruiting African American troops to fight for the Union cause. Douglass rejoiced in December 1865 when ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution formally ended slavery in the United States.