In his new role as president of the bank, Douglass began to familiarize himself with the institution's finances and operations, and learned that the bank was weakened by missing funds and substantial liabilities. In an attempt to strengthen the bank, Douglass deposited $10,000 of his own money in the bank. He also notified Congress, which held the bank's charter, of its insolvency. However, the bank failed in June 1874, and with it vanished three million dollars belonging to 61,000 African Americans.

Just a few years later, in 1877, when President Rutherford Hayes appointed him the U.S. Marshal of the District of Columbia, Frederick Douglass became the first African American confirmed for a Presidential appointment by the U.S. Senate. In his capacity as U.S. Marshal, Douglass was not asked to perform one of the duties often assigned to the position—to formally introduce visiting dignitaries to the President. Though he was urged to resign in protest, Douglass did not and later wrote of his experiences at the White House: I was ever a welcome visitor at the Executive Mansion on state occasions and all others, while Rutherford B. Hayes was President of the United States. I have further to say that I have many times during his administration had the honor to introduce distinguished strangers to him, both of native and foreign birth, and never had reason to feel myself slighted by himself or his amiable wife. . .

In 1889 President Benjamin Harrison appointed him Minister to Haiti, a post he held until 1891. Citing Haiti's revolution, Douglass constantly emphasized the connections between its origins and America's. These positions were among the highest an African American man had been appointed two in the 19th century. Frederick Douglass died in 1895, leaving behind a rich legacy from enslaved man to a driving force of the abolitionist movement and ambassador to the black republic, Haiti.