He felt that if the Negroes could not be protected in every State, the Federal Government was shorn of its rightful dignity and power, the late rebellion had triumphed, the sovereign of the nation was an empty vessel, and the power and authority in individual States were supreme.

He thought, therefore, that it was better for the Negroes to stay in the South than to go North, as the South was a better market for the black man's labor.
Douglass believed that the Negroes should be warned against a nomadic life.

He did not see any more benefit in the migration to Kansas than he had years before in the emigration to Africa.

The Negroes had a monopoly of labor at the South and they would be too insignificant in numbers to have such an advantage in the North.

The blacks were then potentially able to elect members of Congress in the South but could not hope to exercise such power in other parts.