J. J. Briggs to Frederick Douglass, August 18, 1856

FOR FREDERICK DOUGLASS'S PAPER.

LETTER FROM J. J. BRIGGS.

SALINA, August 18th, 1856.

F. DOUGLASS, ESQ: DEAR SIR :— Permit me to say that, in adopting the resolution to give the "influence of your voice and vote for the election of Fremont and Dayton," you have, in my judgement, done a very sensible thing. The end you aim at is the abolition of slavery. Obviously the first step towards the attainment of this end, is to create and diffuse among the People a sound anti-slavery sentiment. This is to be done by discussion, by holding up to view the evils, wrongs, and atrocities of the slave system, by "agitation" (as it is contemptuously termed) of the slavery question. After an intelligent public opinion shall have been formed, the next step is, to bring its power to bear, to prevent the further spread of slavery, and to resist the aggressive encroachments of the slaveholders upon the rights and interests of freedom. This is to be accomplished through the ballot-box, by removing from office the minions and tools of the slaveholding oligarchy, and putting in their places honest and faithful representatives of the anti-slavery sentiment of the nation. When this advanced position shall have been reached, it will be time to discuss and settle the question, as to the extent of the power delegated by the constitution to the federal government over slavery in the States.—Until the, such discussion is in a great measure premature. Of what avail is it to prove that Congress has power to abolish slavery in the States or that the federal judiciary ought to declare that it has no legal existence there, so long as every department of the government is under the control of the slaveholders?

Yours, &c.,

J. J. BRIGGS.