Editing Frederick Douglass (section)

===Before the Civil War===
By the time of the Civil War, Douglass was one of the most famous black men in the country, known for his orations on the condition of the black race and on other issues such as [[women's rights]]. His eloquence gathered crowds at every location. His reception by leaders in England and Ireland added to his stature.

He had been seriously proposed for the congressional seat of his friend and supporter [[Gerrit Smith]], who declined to run again after his term ended in 1854.<ref>{{cite news
|title=Black Man Going to Congress
|newspaper=Weekly Raleigh Register
|location=[[Raleigh, North Carolina]]
|date=July 5, 1854
|page=1
|via=[[newspapers.com]]
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/100176054/black-man-frederick-douglass-proposed/
|access-date=April 21, 2022
|archive-date=April 21, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421141957/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/100176054/black-man-frederick-douglass-proposed/
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name=Bugle/> Smith recommended to him that he not run, because there were "strenuous objections" from members of Congress.<ref>{{cite news
|title=Letter from Gerrit Smith — Mr. Smith's Review of Congress and Sketches of its Leading Members — He objects to Frederick Douglass
|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]
|first=Gerrit
|last=Smith
|author-link=Gerrit Smith
|date=September 2, 1854
|page=2
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1854/09/02/archives/article-10-no-title.html
|access-date=April 24, 2022
|archive-date=April 24, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220424013808/https://www.nytimes.com/1854/09/02/archives/article-10-no-title.html
|url-status=live
}}</ref> The possibility "afflicted some with convulsions, others with panic, more with an astonishing flow of exceedingly select and nervous language", "giving vent to all sorts of linguistic enormities."<ref>{{cite news
|title=The Black and White Douglas
|newspaper=[[Wabash Courier]]
|location=[[Terre Haute, Indiana]]
|date=July 22, 1854
|via=[[Hoosier State Chronicles]]
|url=https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=WACO18540722&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-%22Gerrit+smith%22------

}}</ref> If the House agreed to seat him, which was unlikely, all the Southern members would walk out, so the country would finally be split.<ref name=Bugle>{{cite news
|title=Frederick Douglass in Congress
|newspaper=[[The Anti-Slavery Bugle]]
|location=[[Salem, Ohio]]
|date=August 26, 1854
|page=2
|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83035487/1854-08-26/ed-1/seq-2/
|access-date=April 21, 2022
|archive-date=April 21, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421142000/https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83035487/1854-08-26/ed-1/seq-2/
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
|title=F. Douglass in Congress
|newspaper=[[Anti-Slavery Bugle]]
|date=August 5, 1854
|location=[[Salem, Ohio]]
|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83035487/1854-08-05/ed-1/seq-1/#
|page=1}}</ref> No black person would serve in Congress until 1870, just after the passage of the [[Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fifteenth Amendment]].