Press for Douglass

July 9, 1847

Three articles on the first page enter the discussion of the proposed paper.  One is signed simply, Libertas. Another is from Chronotype, and the third is a letter from Douglass.  Douglass, writing to Garrison, recounts how friends in England had urged this editorship upon him, and he says, “I objected at once to the adoption of any measures for carrying out their kind intentions”…then he lists four objections.  He goes on to comment that there is not a single press in the United States under control of a colored person, and though several attempts to do so have failed, he believes “the time has arrived when such a press could be established”… “I suggested that a printing press would be a useful and acceptable testimonial, and one which would have this advantage over the former one; it would be a gift to my race, as well as a testimony of their confidence in me as their advocate…. Since my return home, three newspapers under the management of colored persons have sprung into existence, and believing that these will be sufficient to accomplish the good which I sought, I have with some reluctance given up my intention of publishing a paper for the present.”

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