Name Class Date As you read think about why Douglass argued that former slaves should be given the right to vote. I have had but one idea for the last three years to present to the American people, and the phraseol- ogy in which I clothe it is the old abolition phrase- ology. I am for the ?immediate, unconditional, and universal? enfranchisement of the black man, in every State in the Union. Without this, his liberty is a mockery; without this, you might as well almost retain the old name of slavery for his condition; for in fact, if he is not the slave of the individual master, he is the slave of society, and holds his liberty as a privilege, not as a right. He is at the mercy of the mob, and has no means of protecting himself. . .