Analysis: "Men of Color, To Arms!"
"Men of Color, To Arms!" is a powerful rallying cry articulated by Frederick Douglass during the American Civil War, emphasizing the urgent need for African American men to enlist in the fight against slavery. Douglass, an escaped slave and prominent abolitionist, sought to empower black men by highlighting their role in securing not only their own freedom but also the rights of future generations. His message came at a pivotal moment when the Emancipation Proclamation had opened avenues for black military service, yet many faced rejection from Union forces.
Douglass's appeal framed the war as a critical opportunity to actively resist the oppression of slavery, urging men to recognize the significance of their participation in the Union army as a step towards full citizenship and equality under the law. He aimed to dispel doubts within the black community regarding the effectiveness of fighting, asserting that their service would pave the way for broader democratic access. His rhetoric intertwined themes of agency, historical legacy, and moral duty, referencing past struggles for freedom to inspire commitment among potential soldiers.
Moreover, Douglass addressed the harsh realities faced by black troops, who often endured unequal treatment and labor conditions, yet remained steadfast in the belief that their sacrifices would lead to meaningful change. In invoking both divine support and a sense of urgency, he sought to unite African American men around a common cause, framing their participation in the war as a significant contribution to the fight against tyranny and a step towards achieving a more just society.
Analysis: "Men of Color, To Arms!"
Date: March 21, 1863
Author: Douglass, Frederick
Genre: broadside
Summary Overview
The central issue in the American Civil War was the states’ right to determine the fate of slavery in both the existing states as well as the territory of expansion. In that heated and eventually violent discussion, several key voices emerged, including that of the self-educated escaped slave turned free man Frederick Douglass. His story, chronicled in his famous personal narrative, was evidence for abolitionists against the virulent racism that permeated both Northern and Southern consciousnesses. Douglass became a voice for African American men throughout the free and slave states, representing the articulation of black manhood and civilization.
Douglass worked from the start of the war to persuade white administrators and commanders to allow black soldiers to serve in the Union army. For many months these men were denied their opportunity to fight in a war that was deciding their fate. Douglass continued working with intellectuals like Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Anna Elizabeth Dickinson to persuade influential Republican politicians, who were the most sympathetic to the abolitionist crusade, to allow black men to fight for their country. Douglass and others articulated that it was indeed the point of black service to earn full citizenship for African Americans. Beyond emancipation, they fought for equal rights under the American Constitution.
Document Analysis
Frederick Douglass’s broadside message, “Men of Color, To Arms!” was a certain rallying cry to the black freedmen of the North. He provided a message from a black man to black men about the necessity of service. He implored that it was high time for slaves to respond to the injustices of their slaveholders. It was time for black men to respond to a call that they had felt for many years. His connection between the struggles of African American men and the promise of a new redefined Union were tangible. Douglass wanted the newly free African American men to realize that they had an opportunity to fight and earn acceptance in the eyes of the broader white American community.
Douglass repeated the theme that now, meaning the spring of 1863, was finally time for black men to take up arms. Many had tried to volunteer and were denied during the first two years of the war, but the Emancipation Proclamation opened the opportunity for black service. He wrote, “A war undertaken and brazenly carried on for the perpetual enslavement of colored men, calls logically and loudly for colored men to help suppress.” The interesting point about that perspective was that Douglass featured the negative Confederate war effort rather than the positive Union effort. For these men that he called, it was not merely a fight for rights, but instead a fight to resist the tyranny of Southern slavery. Their freedom and the freedom of those still in bondage was on the line. Fighting, in this case for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, was worth the sacrifice that it might cost. His comments on the timeliness of the service were rooted in the restrictions of the past, but also the urgency of the moment. He added, “In good earnest then, and after the best deliberation, I now for the first time during this war feel at liberty to call and counsel you to arms.” It was important that they serve in the moment that their country needed them.
Douglass asserted that fighting for their freedom, or to stop slaveholders, would ultimately garner black soldiers equality under American law. Speaking specifically of the conditions of fighting, he explained that black troops would be given equal pay. He wrote, “I am authorized to assure you that you will receive the same wages, the same rations, the same equipments, the same protection, the same treatment, and the same bounty, secured to the white soldiers.” Douglass may have been “assured” of this, but it certainly never materialized for black troops. Not only were they chronically under paid, they were also forced to do “slave like” labor, such as fatigue duty, cutting trees, laying roads, hauling supplies, and burying the white dead. When black troops signed up to fight they followed the rallying cries of men like Douglass, only to find themselves doing grunt labor often far from the firing lines of the Army of the Potomac in the early part of their service. As circumstances changed and the war continued, black soldiers did see combat in a variety of contexts, including the now-famous assault on Battery Wagner, South Carolina, by the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, led by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw.
Douglass acknowledged division within the black community and spoke against the detractors to service. He mentioned that some warned black men would be “no better off after than before the war,” but Douglass linked the efforts to fight directly to the expansion of rights for many within the nation. He said that it is “your hour and mine.” Their service and sacrifice was not merely for themselves, largely free blacks reading the broadside. Rather, Douglass wanted these men to fight for their “enslaved fellow-countrymen” and generations to come. Douglass saw the Civil War as an opportunity to broaden access to democracy. If the use of force was necessary, he knew that the help of black men would only strengthen the Union cause. He rallied black men on the point not just of the color of their skin, but enlisting them in a liberation army for the good of the nation. His politics were violent, but at the behest of advancing a nation of freedom more than simply to seek vengeance in the face of former masters.
Douglass wanted the men to think of their cause beyond individual motives, pointing to the supernatural as an avenue of support. He described their cause in terms of ultimate good, writing, “Remember that in a contest with oppression, the Almighty has no attribute which can take sides with oppressors. The case is before you. This is our golden opportunity. Let us accept it, and forever wipe out the dark reproaches unsparingly hurled against us by our enemies.” The combination of bellicose language and the support of the Almighty was typical of the era. It was important that Douglass give the African American men agency in fighting because many thought they did not have a right to fight back against their oppressors. Douglass gave them the rhetoric to explain and justify their violent actions in a way that blended nicely with the Protestant Christianity that was so common among African Americans at the time. Douglass contextualized his statement in terms of both “opportunity” and “wiping out… darkness,” with both providing a combination of urgency and completeness to the task at hand.
Douglass he hoped that soldiers would see themselves among a long line of men who offered resistance to white rule. In the broadside, Douglass made direct reference to the slave rebellion attempts of Denmark Vesey, Nathaniel Turner, and the two men who died martyrs fighting alongside radical abolitionist John Brown, Shields Green and Copeland. These men were not the types of names that were thrown around flippantly. By invoking their sacrifice, Douglass intentionally provoked the men into believing it was indeed time to strike. These earlier attempts for freedom were not successful, but Douglass wanted the men observing the broadside to have a personal and historical connection with the efforts of the war through the violent sacrifice of the past. This war was the consummation of all of the efforts of other brave men. It was time to stand up and fight for the legacy of black men. It was time to fight for the possibility of freedom, both that away from slaveholders and also that of new citizenship in the Union.
Bibliography
Cornish, Dudley M. The Sable Arm: Black Troops in the Union Army, 1861-1865. Lawrence: UP of Kansas, 1987. Print.
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave,Written by Himself (Bedford Series in History and Culture). New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002. Print.
Martin Jr., Waldo E. Mind of Frederick Douglass. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1986. Print.
Further Reading
Glatthaar, Joseph. Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 2000. Print
Manning, Chandra. What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War. New York: Vintage, 2008. Print.
McFeeley, William. Frederick Douglass. New York: Norton, 1995. Print.
McPherson, James M. The Negro’s Civil War: How American Blacks Felt and Acted During the Civil War. New York: Vintage, 2003. Print.