Frederick Douglass: “Men of Color, To Arms!”

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

In the opening lines of his speech, Douglass grounds his arguments in his prophetic belief that this war will bring about great advances in the struggle for racial equality. After establishing that black troops would eventually be used, regardless of the northern public’s criticisms, Douglass turns to an examination of how the ongoing Civil War is not merely a war over states’ rights; it is a war to determine whether or not slavery would be part of the American legal, political, economic, and social system. Here he advances his first main point: The only logical response to southerners’ perpetuation of slavery is to enlist black troops in the war effort; anyone should have been able to see that “the arm of the slave was the best defense against the arm of the slaveholder.”

Douglass had been a vocal proponent of black enlistment throughout the war, but it was not until 1863 that the Emancipation Proclamation created a path that could fulfill his dreams. Influencing the government’s position on this matter had been a slow (even tedious) process, but in the next section of his speech he encourages the audience not to revisit the history of black enlistment. The war effort could not be delayed any longer: “Action! Action! not criticism, is the plain duty of this hour. Words are now useful only as they stimulate to blows.” Although Douglass had always advocated the use of violence to free slaves, the ongoing war had convinced him that this was the perfect time for northern blacks—whether they had been born free or slave—to accept this challenge.

Next, Douglass addresses the black critics of black enlistment, methodically dismantling the fallacies behind their reluctance to fight. He even calls these critics “weak and cowardly men.… They tell you this is the ‘white man’s war’; and you will be ‘no better off after than before the war.’” Some black northerners’ resistance to enlistment, according to Douglass, stemmed from their fear that white officers would carelessly place them on the front lines to be sacrificed “on the first opportunity.” As Douglass and his audience were aware, even northerners who supported the war effort and believed that slavery was an immoral system did not necessarily support full racial equality, and this prejudiced attitude could engender resentment among the ranks of white officers who commanded black regiments. Douglass did not want such negativity to discourage black men who were willing to perform their civic duty on the battlefield, since “liberty won by white men would lose half its luster.” Instead of giving credence to these objections leveled by “cowards,” he encouraged black men to prove their bravery by enlisting. Lest anyone suspect that he had not given this matter due consideration, Douglass reassured the audience that “the counsel I give comes of close observation of the great struggle now in progress, and of the deep conviction that this is your hour and mine.”

The previous points all serve as an introduction to the heart of Douglass’s argument: that after much thought he is confident enough in his convictions to use plain language and “call and counsel you to arms.” He links blacks’ involvement in the military directly to the furtherance of black rights in the United States, declaring, “I urge you to fly to arms, and smite with death the power that would bury the government and your liberty in the same hopeless grave.” The destiny of African Americans is here tied directly to the continuation of the Union.

Who will lead this fight? In the second paragraph he presents the practical implications of this call to arms and announces how Massachusetts is poised to take the lead in black enlistment. Massachusetts harbors only a small population of free blacks, but Douglass encourages those in Rochester to “go quickly and help fill up the first colored regiment from the North.” Douglass had been in contact with the governor of Massachusetts, John A. Andrews, in addition to other key political and military figures in the days and weeks leading up to this speech. He reassures the audience that he is an authorized spokesperson who knows the details of the enlistment process and that any black men who enlisted would be accorded the same wages and treatment as white soldiers. Although he does not state whether the officers would be white or African American, he promises that these leaders would treat all their recruits equally and without discrimination.

The closing section of Douglass’s speech includes the most powerfully inspiring rhetoric of the entire presentation, and it is also the richest in terms of historical references. Douglass suggests an analogy to the audience, observing that the slave system in the South is a prison and that those African Americans who are already free now have the responsibility to save their brethren who still labor in bondage. He calls to mind some of the great black revolutionaries in American history as a reminder that this current conflict is only an extension of a battle that had been raging in the hearts of African Americans for centuries. First he names Denmark Vesey, a former slave in Charleston, South Carolina, who planned a rebellion against slaveholders in 1822; before Vesey and his compatriots could implement their plan, word got out to the local white community and a full-scale panic erupted in the countryside. Vesey was executed in 1822. Douglass then references Nathaniel (Nat) Turner, a Virginia slave who launched a full-scale rebellion in 1831 that ended with the deaths of at least fifty-five whites and most members of the rebellion (including Turner himself). Last, he recalls that two former slaves—Shields Green and John Anthony Copeland—had participated in John Brown’s raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in October 1859. Green had spent some time in Rochester, the site of Douglass’s speech, prior to his involvement with Brown, so his name would have been familiar to the audience. Both Green and Copeland were executed in Charles Town, Virginia (now West Virginia), on December 16, 1859, for their involvement in the raid. These men had paved the way for black involvement in the military. According to Douglass this was the perfect opportunity for northern blacks to combat slavery and “win for ourselves the gratitude of our country, and the best blessings of our posterity through all time.”