logo

68 pages 2 hours read

Life and Times of Frederick Douglass

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1881

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Part 3, Chapters 5-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 3: “Third Part”

Part 3, Chapter 5 Summary: “President Cleveland’s Administration”

Douglass finds President Grover Cleveland to be a “robust, manly man” with “the courage to act upon his convictions”—exactly the sort of person Douglass admires (453). Cleveland is a Democrat and Douglass a Republican, so the admiration is purely personal yet well founded. Following the death of his first wife, Anna Murray, in 1882, Douglass two years later married a white woman, Helen Pitts. This “shocking offense” leaves Douglass “ostracized by white and black alike” (453), though not by President Cleveland, who, at age 49, made an unconventional marriage of his own by wedding 21-year-old Frances Folsom.

Cleveland won the presidency in 1884 thanks largely to the rot and drift inside the Republican Party. For nearly eight years of Republican administrations under Rutherford B. Hayes and Chester A. Arthur, “the spirit of slavery and rebellion increased in power and advanced toward ascendancy” (454), interrupted only by the brief and hopeful interlude of James Garfield’s evanescent moment. President Cleveland himself represented neither slavery nor rebellion, but his Democratic Party most certainly did, and the Freedmen knew it.

Part 3, Chapter 6 Summary: “The Supreme Court Decision”

In 1883, the Supreme Court struck down the Civil Rights Act of 1875, in effect prohibiting the federal government from enforcing the equal-rights protections guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.

blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
Unlock IconUnlock all 68 pages of this Study Guide

Plus, gain access to 8,500+ more expert-written Study Guides.

Including features:

+ Mobile App
+ Printable PDF
+ Literary AI Tools