Landmine,

The man's name is Frederick Douglass; no "A" and two "s"es. If you're going to use his name, would you do him the honor of at least spelling his name correctly? He was indeed a Republican (then- but this is now, q.v. above), but if by trotting him out as a [nineteenth century] Republican you are attempting to imply that this runaway slave, abolitionist, newspaper publisher, advocate of womens' rights and universal suffrage, champion of human rights & etc. would in any way condone the current doings of the Republican Party as exemplified by Bush, & Co, you must be a complete idiot. Have you ever read any of Douglass' works? Puh-leeze!!

You can repeat your bogus claims about Black officeholders as often as you wish, but it just won't make it so- I do NOT have the time to look up all the statistics for you, but they are readily available- I can provide a bibliography for you if you want. But as an introduction:

Only sixteen Blacks sat in Congress during ALL of Reconstruction. There were only 3 Blacks in the 41st Congress and 5 in the 42nd. The first Black Senator to serve in the Senate was Hiram Revels- and not until 1870. The only Black Governor of a southern state was P.B.S. Pinchback of Louisiana. Absolutey NO blacks held major state office during Reconstruction in Texas, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia or Virginia. And on, and on.....

If you have any facts to support your contentions about the unions, I'd be interested to see them. If all you have are anecdotes.... who cares.

I HAVE listened to the Johnson tapes. So what? That was then, and this is now. Nowadays- the time period under discussion- its not the Democrats that are rolling back civil and personal rights at every available opportunity.