In Chapter III, Douglass explains how some of the positive paternal thoughts have come about: Fear of retaliation. Slaves know that acting in any negative manner can possibly bring beatings or even death. Therefore, it is not surprising that "slaves, when inquired of as to their condition and the character of their masters, almost universally say they are contented, and that their masters are kind." Further, many swayed by this prejudice, actually begin to believe that their masters are better than others. Sadly, added Douglass, this often leads to slave against slave, where each thinks he is the better because he has the "better" and kinder master.
Douglass condemns those blacks who foolishly believe they are better because of their master's status. While there is mostly natural connection among slaves, he notes, the system leads to disagreement among slaves. Masters promote one slave to betray another: For example, a traitor even tricks Douglass and prevents his first escape attempt.
Nor, are slaves going to act out in any way that will call attention to themselves. This lends much credence to the above stated belief that no rebellion occurrs due to fear of retaliation and force. Mr. Gore argued: "...if one slave refused to be corrected, and escaped with his life, the other slaves would soon copy the example."
When Douglass went to Baltimore (Chapter VI), his mistress begins to teach him reading and writing. However, her husband will not agree to this. He says, it is in the best interests for a slave not to be educated. After all, a slave will only be frustrated because it is useless information! Even Douglass admits that he "envied my fellow slaves for their stupidity," for they do not believe themselves capable of freedom nor know nothing of being treated kindly.
Mr. Auld is indicative of many of the other masters in Baltimore, who treat their slaves much differently than...
Graff Asserts that literacy played a less significant role in the industrialization of American than was one thought. He argues that training people to read and write was not enough. Literacy alone was not enough to advance the industrialized nation (Cattau). Douglas did not need to know how to read to perform his job in the shipyard. He only needed to know how to write four letters. He did not
Frederick Douglass and Thomas Paine Thomas Paine and Frederick Douglass are two men who inspired two very different revolutions, one of which led to the founding of a new nation, the other of which led to the freedom from slavery of an entire race of people. These two revolutions were nearly a century apart, yet the principles of each are the same. Both Paine and Douglass spoke with such eloquence and
Thoreau, Stowe, Melville and Douglas: Reflections on Slavery Henry David Thoreau, Harriet Beacher Stowe, Herman Melville and Fredrick Douglass all opposed the intuition of slavery in the United States in the middle of the nineteen century. This matter deeply divided the nation and ultimately led to the Civil War in 1860. While southerner's saw the matter as a state's rights issue, abolitions framed the debate from a moral perspective. Most people
Douglass asks, "Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? That point is conceded already. Nobody doubts it" (Douglass, 1852). However, this statement was simply not true; the humanity of blacks was a seriously debated point at that period of time. He repeats this phrase in two more phrases, "For the present it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race" and "the
He was not just some compassionate liberal advocating freedom for the oppressed, he was an actual victim of the system who had risen above it. This strengthened his leadership abilities even further because he was able to use his personal experiences to relate the horrors of slavery to those who had only read about it. When he tells about the cruelty of the slave overseer Mr. Gore, stating "His savage
John Brown's Raid lead to the Civil War? In 1859, John Brown led an attack on a federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry in Virginia with the hope of arming slaves for a revolt against their masters. The plot failed and Brown was captured and hanged. Northern abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison, Horace Greeley, and Frederick Douglas hailed Brown as a martyr, but Southerners viewed him as a crazed lunatic. The
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