“You are placed in a position where you have the power to save or destroy us,” Douglass told the president. “I mean our whole race.” Johnson, in a rambling, evasive, and self-justifying speech, assured Douglass that he was a friend to black people. “I have owned slaves and bought slaves,” he said, “but I never sold one.” In truth, Johnson had no intention of taking a stand against black codes or debating equal rights or signing a Civil Rights Act. After Douglass left, Johnson scoffed to an aide, “He’s just like any nigger, and he would sooner cut a white man’s throat than not.”18 In March,
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