Frederick Douglass, the Orator - Monroe County Library System

Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection
I36 LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS.
In the following extract from his second address
delivered at the Lincoln Memorial Church, April
16, 1885, he compliments President Cleveland
upon his inaugural address and expresses the
hope that he will administer the affairs of the
government with due regard to the rights of all
citizens irrespective of race or color.
These are his words:—
No better words have dropped from the east
portico of the Capitol since the inauguration days
of Abraham Lincoln and General Grant. I believe
they were sincerely spoken, but whether the
president will be able to administer the government
in the light of those liberal sentiments is an
open question. The one-man power in our government
is very great, but the power of party
may be greater. The president is not the autocrat
but the executive of the nation. But, happily,
the executive is yet a power, and may be able to
obtain the support of the co-ordinate branches of
the government in so plain a duty as protecting
the rights of the colored citizens, with those of all
other citizens of the republic. For one, though
Republican I am, and have been, and ever expect
to be, though I did what I could to elect James
G. Blaine as president of the United States, I am
disposed to trust President Cleveland. By his
words, as well as by his oath of office, solemnly
subscribed to before uncounted thousands of