Frederick Douglass Signed Official 1884 Deed

SIGNED BY FREDERICK DOUGLASS AS MARSHAL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, OFFICIAL 1884 DEED EXAMINED AND SIGNED BY DOUGLASS WHOSE HISTORIC APPOINTMENT SIGNALED "HE WAS NOW THE OUTSIDER WHO WOULD BE THE INSIDER" DOUGLASS, Frederick. Document signed. Washington, D.C.:

(W.H. Moore), September 2, 1884. Original ivory leaf (14" x 17" unfolded; 3.50" by 8.50" folded).

Official 1884 document signed by Frederick Douglass as marshal of the District of Columbia, a position he held under three presidents, dated shortly before the election of President Grover Cleveland, seen by Douglass as a dangerous return to "the old exploded slave power," with President Cleveland removing Douglass from his post in 1886.

Soon after the inauguration of President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1877, he placed "Douglass' name forward for marshal of the District of Columbia... the first time in American history that an African American was nominated for a position that required Senate approval... The marshal posted all bankruptcies in the District and remanded all prisoners back and forth between jail and the courts. In effect, he helped run the federal court that once adjudicated fugitive-slave cases. Hayes did, however, buckle under prejudice by relieving Douglass of one traditional duty-introducing distinguished guests at White House receptions... the appointment caused both a storm of protest and a wave of celebration in the press... Some journalists considered the marshal's job in the District second in importance only to cabinet secretaries, while others thought it largely symbolic. But the symbolism of a black man selected by the president carried broad significance... the marshalship gave Douglass a new kind of fame... he was now the outsider who would be the insider." By serving as marshal, a post he held under three presidents, Douglass again "remade himself, and such an imperative was no less the case in post-Reconstruction America than in his earlier heroic life" (Blight, Frederick Douglass, 583-4, 587-8).

This original official document, printed and completed in an unidentified hand, is signed by Douglass on the docketed front panel titled "Quit-Claim Deed." With notary public signature, verification and embossed stamp. Number "10" at upper corner. Douglass' signature is dated shortly before the election of Grover Cleveland, a man Douglass condemned for returning "the old exploded slave power" to government (Blight, 661) Cleveland, who appointed many former Confederates and viewed Reconstruction as a failure, refused to use federal authority to enforce the 15th Amendment that protected African American voting rights. Cleveland kept Douglass on for about a year, replacing him in March 1886 with a black lawyer, James Matthews. Douglass remained at his post until August 1886. The following month he left for an extended visit to Europe. He would not return until August 1887. This September 1, 1884 document, dated "Received for Record September 2, 1884" and signed by Douglass, covers the transfer of property from Lorin Maxon Saunders to William Liebert. Saunders was a leading Washington, D.C. lawyer, realtor and banker.

Signature dark and clear.

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