Helena Rosenblatt

This was not a liberal position, I would say.

This is, as many people were saying, you are betraying your own principles.

And conservatives were also for, perhaps even more so, for colonialism, imperialism.

It's horrible to say, but racism was rampant.

Sexism was rampant.

If anyone was against it, they were liberals, basically.

Yeah, for sure.

So the thing to remember is that, for example, when it comes to women, you know, liberals did not really lobby for women's suffrage until very, very, very late.

They were not at all for giving women the vote until it was almost forced upon them.

But on the other hand, the women, when they did fight for admission into political rights,

They used the terms of liberalism.

They went to the guys and they said, hey, you know, you're not living up to your own principles.

You're like an aristocracy, an aristocracy of sex.

You're acting like despots.

We want to participate.

We want to also be citizens.

We can have the virtues of citizens.

So they use that same language to say liberalism.

We have shared responsibilities, and we bring something to the table, something liberal.

So they use the language, and I think that's also true with Frederick Douglass and other groups that have been prejudiced against and even subordinated and oppressed, that they can use the language of liberalism, use the lofty notions and the ideals to argue for their own rights and their own capacities.