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THIS WEEK IN PEOPLE’S HISTORY, DEC 17–23, 2025  
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_ ‘Our Government May at Some Time Be in the Hands of a Bad Man’
(1866), Cracking Down on Radicals (1795), Emancipation, What Good Is
It? (1865), Music at the Library (1940), New Direction for Jazz (1960)
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_‘OUR GOVERNMENT MAY AT SOME TIME BE IN THE HANDS OF A BAD MAN’_

DECEMBER 17 IS THE 164TH ANNIVERSARY of one of Frederick Douglass’s
most well-remembered speeches, which has earned the appellation
“Danger to the Republic”. Many of the issues that concerned
Douglass more than a century-and-a-half ago are headline news at this
very moment. 

On that day in 1866, 20 months after the assassination of Abraham
Lincoln and Andrew Johnson’s becoming President, Douglass spoke
passionately to a Brooklyn audience about how some aspects of
Johnson’s tenure were evidence of flaws in the U.S. Constitution. 

For example, Douglass argued strongly that no President should have
the power to pardon criminals at his sole discretion. He declared,
“there is a good reason why we should do away with the pardoning
power in the hands of the President, that is that our government may
at some time be in the hands of a bad man.” If a bad man were to
become President, according to Douglass, he could encourage his
supporters to attempt a coup and tell them ‘I am with you. If you
succeed, all is well. If you fail, I will interpose the shield of my
pardon, and you are safe. . . . Go on,” and attempt a coup; “I
will stand by you.”

Another issue causing Douglass great concern was the President’s
power to appoint so many government officials and to require them to
resign whenever he wanted to. As he put it, “The Constitution . . .
. declares that the President may appoint with . . . . the Senate’s
advice and consent, but custom and a certain laxity of administration
has almost obliterated this feature of the Constitution, and now the
President appoints, he not only appoints by and with the consent, but
he has the power of removal, and with this power he virtually makes
the agency of the Senate of the United States of no effect in the
matter of appointments.”

Douglass delivered the same speech on at least a dozen occasions in as
many U.S. cities between  December 1866 and April 1867. To see the
entire address, which includes many other criticisms of President
Johnson that are surprisingly relevant to the concerns of 2025,
visit 
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_CRACKING DOWN ON RADICALS_

DECEMBER 18 IS THE 230TH ANNIVERSARY of a moment when the British
government aimed a hard legislative blow at growing political unrest.
On this day in 1795 Parliament passed two draconian laws, the
Seditious Meetings Act and the Treason Act.

The Seditious Meetings Act outlawed public meetings of more than 50
people. The Treason Act made it a crime to intend to do harm to the
King. The maximum penalty for violating either of the acts was death.

The new laws were passed in reaction to a wave of widespread
anti-monarchist sentiment that was encouraged by the ongoing French
Revolution and by England’s war against the radical French regime,
which had driven food prices so high that many workers with jobs could
not afford enough to eat.

Many of the organizations that were targets of the Seditious Meetings
Act disbanded soon after it passed, so very few prosecutions took
place. All three prosecutions for violating the Treason Act resulted
in
acquittal. [link removed]

 

_EMANCIPATION, WHAT GOOD IS IT?_

DECEMBER 19 IS THE 160TH ANNIVERSARY of the South Carolina
legislature passing a law that, as the Equal Justice Initiative
reports “forced recently emancipated Black citizens into subservient
social relationships with white landowners, stating that ‘all
persons of color who make contracts for service or labor, shall be
known as servants, and those with whom they contract, shall be known
as masters.’” For the complete account,
visit [link removed] 

 

_FOLK MUSIC AT THE LIBRARY_

DECEMBER 20 IS THE 85TH ANNIVERSARY of a folk music concert at the
Library of Congress, a performance of the Golden Gate Quartet with
Josh White on guitar. It was the Library’s first folk music concert,
beginning a tradition that has become a regular feature of Library of
Congress events. 
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_NEW DIRECTION FOR JAZZ_

DECEMBER 21 IS THE 65TH ANNIVERSARY of Ornette Colman and seven other
musicians laying the foundation for the Free Jazz movement when they
created the tracks that were later released by Atlantic Records as
“Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation.” The session personnel
were alto saxophone – Ornette Coleman; bass – Charlie Haden and
Scott LaFaro; bass clarinet – Eric Dolphy; drums – Billy Higgins
and Ed Blackwell; trumpet – Freddie Hubbard; pocket trumpet –
Donald Cherry. You can listen to the album
here: [link removed]

For more People's History,
visithttps://www.facebook.com/jonathan.bennett.7771/

* Frederick Douglass
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* Jim Crow race laws
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