96

394 HISTORICAL ANNOTATION

from Lynn, Massachusetts, to Rochester, New York, on 1 November 1847. Quar-
les, Frederick Douglass, 70.
228.17–18/396.6–7 "union between the northern and southern states;"] Through
the late 1840s, Douglass's views on the Constitution coincided with the Garrison-
ian belief that the U.S. Constitution supported proslavery interests. In a March
1849 editorial in the North Star, Douglass outlined his position and concluded that
the Constitution was "radically and essentially pro-slavery." Following his move
to Rochester and close association with political abolitionists such as Gerrit Smith,
Douglass reevaluated his position on the Constitution. Douglass came to believe
that those sections that excluded the sanction of "property in man" offered evi-
dence that the founding fathers had in fact viewed slavery as evil and even planned
for its eventual abolition. He also observed that those clauses that the Garrisonians
and slaveholders used to justify the proslavery nature of the document did not ex-
plicitly mention slavery. Coming to a more literal interpretation as held by political
abolitionists, by 1851 Douglass began to interpret those clauses dealing with the
basic freedoms as expressly antislavery statements. His political abolitionist col-
leagues praised the change and congratulated him "upon the change of sentiment"
he now expressed. Gerrit Smith even remarked that "I have observed for years, that
you were coming to this conclusion." Gerrit Smith to Douglass, ASB, 2 August
1851; Bob Markle to Douglass, NS, 28 August 1851; NS, 16 March 1849; FDP, 24
July 1851; Martin, Mind of Frederick Douglass, 31, 37–38.
230.10/399.11 "Jim Crow car"] The term Jim Crow derives from the refrain
of a popular nineteenth-century plantation song, "Wheel about and turn about and
jump Jim Crow." The term refers to a stage presentation of a song and dance first
performed by Thomas D. Rice and later used in minstrel shows. A "Jim Crow car"
was a railroad car for the exclusive use of African Americans, and seems to have
first been used in Massachusetts in 1841. Mathews, Dictionary of Americanisms,
1: 907.
230.11–27/399.13–400.5 Attempting to start . . . seats and all] The incident
Douglass describes was a combination of two events. The first took place on 8 Sep-
tember 1841 as he traveled to an antislavery meeting in Dover, New Hampshire,
with John A. Collins, the general agent of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society.
According to one report, Douglass was forcibly moved to the segregated "Jim
Crow" car, designated for African-American passengers. Later the same month
Douglass challenged the segregated policy of the Eastern Railroad at Lynn, Massa-
chusetts, and, when asked to move to the segregated car, he refused, holding tightly
to the bench seat. The incident led to outrage among the citizens of Lynn and a call
to boycott the Eastern Railroad. Dover (N.H.) Morning Star, 15 September 1841;
Lynn Record, 29 September, 6, 27 October 1841; McFeely, Frederick Douglass,
92–93.
230.12/399.14–15 Newburyport] The city of Newburyport is located on the
Merrimack River in Essex County in northeastern Massachusetts. In the nineteenth